Happy Feet: Frozen Hearts
by KevinBlu
Summary: Official sequel to my first fic. Mumble lost Erik's trust after he spoke too much. Also, a new character would treath Gloria and Mumble's realationship... The bonds of a father and his son will be tested and a young female will keep a secret... a secret that could destroy an entire life relationship... Annonymous reviews allowed ;
1. Introduction and clashes

**Well… what can I say?**

**The god of inspiration bestowed me with some awesome ideas! XD**

**So, my fishy readers, I'm proud to say that this is the official sequel to "Happy Feet ¿No song, no love?" and also to announce that this had became in my own series of Happy Feet's fics!**

"**Choice of life" was more like a prelude, but this… THIS is going to be a real story. I'm very happy and at the same time very nervous about doing this. Unlike my first fic, I had to change most of the Happy Feet 2's plot. I just hope you like the changes I made.**

**Remember, if this is your first time reading a story written by my, you should read "Happy Feet ¿No song, no love?" in order to understand better.**

**Speaking of that, I want to thank you so much guys, because "¿No song, no love?" reached 2200 views! I just can't believe it. When I wrote it, I never imagine that that's story would became my best work yet.**

**And know, I will TRY to make this story even better.**

**Well, I will not say anything more. I will let the story tells itself XD**

**SO LET'S BEGGING WITH…**

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**Happy Feet: Frozen hearts**

**Chapter 1: Introduction and clashes**

The sun appeared in the horizon, marking the beginning of a new day… for some ones, their first day. In the frozen plains of Antarctica, a proud nation of emperor penguin was preparing to start this new challenge: raise their chicks. This nation lived in the territory called Emperor-Land, one of the biggest inhabited territories of Antarctica.

With only one entrance to the territory, and surrounded with huge walls of ice, it's also the most protected and safe of the continent. In addition, this wall provided an infinity of caves that the penguins can use to take shelter if the weather is not very kindly with them.

In one of these caves there was a young female penguin, sleeping in the usual way: stood and with her head rested in her shoulder. She was like every ordinary emperor penguin: her head, back, flippers and outer side of the tail were black and her chest, lower belly and inner side of the tail white. Her chest was adorned with a beautiful necklace of radiant golden feathers and her eyes were brown ambary.

Between her legs, resting on her feet, there was a small penguin chick. All his body was covered with fluffy grey and white feathers, excepting a black mask in his head and around his eyes. He was half of the size of a regular emperor penguin chick and, unlike his mother's, his eyes were blue.

"No… Mumble… no… " She whispered in dreams, giggling "No… Erik can… hear us… Mumble, stop!" She shouted, giggling louder. With the very mention of his name, the little boy that was sleeping on her feet had already woken up.

"Ma, what's happen?" Erik asked, worried about his mother.

"See?... I told… you he would… hear us…" Erik then realized that his mother wasn't talking with him, but with herself… or more specifically, she was dreaming that she was talking with Mumble, his father.

"MOM!" Erik shouted, willing to wake up his mother. She, indeed, woke up immediately and almost falling on her back.

"ERIK! Wha… what's happening?" She quickly asked.

"You were talking in your dreams, ma"

"I was?" Gloria didn't remember anything, not even the dream she was having.

"Yes, you was asking dad to stop" And then she remembered exactly what she was dreaming.

"Oh… yeah, because he… was… tickling me" She quickly lied, while she blushed hardly.

"I war roin what?" A masculine voice asked. Gloria and Erik directed his gaze to this voice and found Mumble entering to the cave. Instead of having black and white feathers like every adult emperor penguin, Mumble was covered with infant fluffy grey and white feathers and, like his son, his eyes were blue too. He was carrying three large fishes in his beak, that's why he spoke so funny "Wharever it is, it's not ma fault"

"Daddy!" Erik shouted, running out of his mother's feet and hugging Mumble foot.

"Hi Erik! Good to see ya, my little boy" He said as he tousled his son's head feathers playfully with his flipper, causing him to giggle.

"How was fishing, honey?" Gloria asked, approaching to her family.

"Excellent! Those aliens helpus a lot!"

"I'm hungry, pa" Erik complained.

"Oh, right! I'll be with ya in a shecond. First, your modher" Mumble then looked at Gloria, who opened her beak and approached it to Mumble's. He then slid the fish inside her beak and she swallowed them "Now, here Erik. Open up!" Erik obeyed and opened his little beak as widely as he could. Mumble bowed his neck, opened his beak and 'returned' his fishing.

"Well (cough) that's (cough) it" He said, straightening again.

"So, how was it?" Gloria asked, teasingly.

"It's not the most pleasant sensation, but (cough) it's not so bad" Gloria smiled and rubbed her head against his.

"So, what are you going to do today?" Erik asked.

"I don't know…" Mumble grabbed Gloria's shoulder with a flipper and made her walked a few steps away from Erik.

"Well, I think I have a good idea" Mumble said "This season is going to be special. Instead of a simply family reunion, Noah told us to organize a big party tomorrow to celebrate wives' arrival"

"That's… great… I guess" Gloria answered, faking a smile. She still didn't like public events, even when this was going to be made for her.

"Yeah, we are going to do all the arrangements today. While we do so, some teacher have improvised a sort of nursery where the chicks can go to meet each other"

"Well, that's good. I mean, there are months before the beginning of the school, so it would be good that Erik meet his companions earlier"

"Oh, but he already started with that"

"What do you mean?" Mumble looked back quickly and approached his beak to Gloria's ear.

"Bo" He whispered.

"Oooooh! Riiight!" Gloria exclaimed, giggling.

"Hey, what are you talking about?" The little Erik asked. He couldn't bear his curiosity any longer.

"Nothing…" Gloria quickly answered.

"So champ, do you want to meet your futures schoolmates?" Mumble asked.

"Well… I…" Erik wasn't sure if he wanted or not. He was one day old, so he didn't know anything about socialization with other chicks… well, except for Bo.

"I heard that Miss Viola is going to be there too" Mumble said, trying to hide his insinuation. Erik's mind worked fast: if Viola was going to be there, it was very likely that Boadicea was going to be there too, so…

"Ok…" Erik answered, hiding the huge excitement that he was feeling.

"Well, let's go then!"

"Now? But if-f we just woke up and… and I-I-I haven't spruced my feathers yet!" Gloria complained.

"Come on, Gloria! Don't start being a vanity penguin now"

"I'm not! But… you know. I have been walking for three month without stop… and I really need some Gloria's time… cleaning my feathers maybe and some other girl's stuff" She explained.

"Huh?... oh... ok… yeah, sure. I will go with Erik and you take all the… Gloria's time you need, right Erik?"

"Yes, mom. We will be fine"

"We will meet you in the square. Come on Erik, on my feet" Mumble said and Erik quickly jumped on his feet, taking shelter in his legs. Both walked out of the cave while Gloria waved her flippers from side to side in signal of farewell. Then she decided to go to the coast. With some luck, the sun would have melted the ice enough to find some water to clean her feathers.

Father and son reached the square very quickly. Mumble went to his reunion with the others parents of his generation and left Erik in the group of chicks, under the care of some young teachers.

Many little penguins came to greet him. He was rather famous already, due his family (After all, he was the offspring of the top of the class and a song-less penguin). Everyone behaved very friendly toward him, even some girls seemed to be REALLY interested in knowing him; but he was too shy to even attempt to make friends, so he barely said some words like 'hi' or 'thank you' when someone gave him a compliment.

After a few minutes of being there, he was walking from side to side distracted, looking down and thinking if his father would pick him up soon from that place. He wasn't able to find Boadicea, so he was a bit sad. He closed his eyes and the remembering of that moment that they shared the day before came back to his mind and made him drew a big smile in his face.

What he didn't know was that while he was immerged in his imagination, his body was still moving; and since we had his eyes closed, he didn't saw the chick in front of him until it was late and he bumped into him. Due to the unexpected hit, the other chick lost his balance and fell on his belly.

"Oh! Sorry!" Erik hurried to apologize.

"You're gonna regret for this, buddy" The other chick replied, while he stood up slowly and turned around. He was taller and a bit fatter than the others chicks, a giant compared with Erik. Actually, he seemed quite menacing… and the anger expression in his face didn't helped.

"Please, don't hurt me! It was an accident!" Erik implored and covered his face with his flippers.

"Wait a second" The other chick said, while he softened his face "Open those eyes again" Erik obeyed and slowly removed his flippers and looked to the chick "Blue eyes?... You are Mr. Mumble's son, right"

"Y-ye-s"

"HAHA! Man that joke was a good one! You're just like my pa told me your pa was" The other chick said happily, while he slapped friendly Erik's back "But I'll have my revenge one of these days. Have it in mind"

"So... you are not going to hurt me?"

"What? No! You don't know who I am?" Erik shook his head "I'm Atticus! Your pa and mine are almost brothers"

"Really?" The big chick nodded.

"By the way, whacha' name?"

"Erik…" The little penguin replied shyly.

"Hm… so you are the Erik that Bo had been talking about?" Erik's heart began to beat faster and his eyes widened as soon as he heard that name "I'll take that as a yes" Atticus had noticed Erik's reaction.

"Bo… had talked… about me?" He asked smiling.

"Maybe…" He teased.

"Come on! Tell me! She did?" Erik insisted.

"Maybe…" Atticus repeated, this time giggling, while Erik sighed angrily.

In that same moment, a certain young penguin lady appeared from behind Atticus.

"Atticus, were have you been? I was looking for you and…" The sweet Boadicea's voice spoke to Atticus, but was cut by him.

"Hi Boadicea, look who is here" Atticus said, pointing Erik with his flipper.

"Bo…" Erik said.

"ERIK!" She shouted.

As soon as the blue eyes of Erik and the ambary ones of Bo met, a wave of emotions run through their heart. Erik' smile almost didn't fit in his face and his dreamy eyes didn't show any intention of stop looking at the female. Bo, in the other hand, was rather shocked of seen Erik. She wasn't expecting to meet him until school. In their first meeting, she let his instincts took control of her; and now that she was thinking clearly, she was totally embarrassed. She turned her face away, trying to hide her blushing, but her eyes were still looking at Erik's.

From nowhere, Bo felt very happy of this reunion, and found herself smiling to Erik… thing that Erik noticed immediately and smiled back, feeling at the same way.

While all this was happening, Atticus was staring confused at both penguins.

"Ok, what's going on with you two?"

"Nothing…" She replied, giggling playfully.

"Yeah… nothing" Erik added.

"Huh?… you two are weird… you knew that?" Atticus opined. Bo and Erik began to giggle that soon became a loud laughter, confusing Atticus even more, so he started laughing too.

The three chicks (after they finished laughing) walked out of the crowd to talk and know each other better. There, Atticus introduced himself properly to Erik. He was Seymour's son, and his mother was McGregor's sister, so he was Boadicea's cousin and was really close to her. She appeared to be a fearless and really self-confident penguin, quite different of the attitude she had showed in front of Erik the day before. She had a strange, yet cute accent when she spoke in long sentences that she had learned of her father. Atticus, in the other hand, was literally the image of Seymour being a chick: Proud of himself and with a strong image, but very friendly with Bo and Erik. He also showed signs of had inherited the rapper heart of his father.

He and Boadicea had born the same day, while Erik born a day after them, that's why he was shorter than them. So, technically, Bo and Atticus were from one generation, and Erik was from another one… a generation with only one integrant. It was extremely weird that a penguin chick takes an extra day in hatching… actually, such thing had never happened. The males usually abandon the egg if it doesn't hatch the day they should. The only thing that saved Erik from that destiny was Mumble's dedication and love for his family, although Erik wasn't aware of that.

Speaking of Mumble, after a hour of speaking, the fluffy penguin walked near the three youngs.

"Hi everybody, is everything ok?" Mumble asked, smiling because Erik had made new friends.

"Hi pa" Erik greeted.

"Hi, Mr M" Bo and Atticus greeted, speaking at the same time.

"Hey, this big tough guy is surely my bro's son, isn't it?" He said to Atticus, while they did a Hi-five-flipper.

"True that!" Atticus replied.

"And who is this lovely girl over here?" Mumble asked, moving toward Bo.

"I'm Bo, sir"

"Oh! Yeah, you are my teacher's daughter, right?"

"Indeed" Bo answered.

"So you are the famous Boadicea that Erik has been talking so much?" Mumble said, in a quite insinuative tone "Now I see what he meant when he said that he couldn't take you out of his mind"

"He… he said… that?" Her eyes widened in shock, and Mumble nodded "Woao…" She replied, while she blushed and looked away.

"You'll have to excuse us, Mr. Mumble, but we gotta go now. Right, Bo?" Atticus said. Bo only nodded and started walking away "See'ya" Atticus said and started following his cousin.

"Bye…" Erik replied, waving his flipper "See you soon, Bo!" He shouted to her, but she didn't even turned her head. Soon, both penguins were out of sight.

"Well, I like your friends. I'm sure you will…"Mumble told to his chick, but was cut by him.

"Why did you said that!" Erik shouted angry "You are my father! How could you do me that!"

"Said what? That you talked about Bo? I didn't know that…"

"I told you that as a secret! You weren't supposed to tell it to anyone, especially to Bo!"

"Son, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" Mumble tried to apologize, but was cut once again.

"I thought I could trust in you…" The young Erik said, while his eyes began to drop tears.

"No, Erik. Of course you can trust in me!"

"NO, I CAN'T!... not anymore" Erik shouted.

"Son, I…" Mumble took a step toward his son an tried to hug him, but Erik slapped his father's flippers with his and took a step back.

"Stay away from me!" It was the second time that someone told that to Mumble, but this time was much more painful because it was his own son who said it.

"Is everything alright here?" Gloria asked, appearing from behind them "I heard some screams and I got worried a lot and…"

"MOMMY!" Erik shouted and run to his mother, hugging her leg and bursting into tears.

"Erik! Son, what's happen?" Gloria asked, very worried about her son, but he wasn't able to pronounce a single word, so she did the only thing that a mother could do in that situation: hug her child and try to understand why he was crying "It's ok, son. Easy… easy" She consoled "Mumble, what's happened to him!" Gloria asked to him.

"I… don't… It wasn't my intention… I… I was…" Mumble tried to approach to his family.

"I DON'T' WANT DADDY WITH US!" The little Erik shouted sobbing, while he entered in his mother's legs, hiding his face on them.

"Mumble…" Gloria sighed "I think that it would be better if Erik and I spend the night with my parents"

"No, no, no… it's ok, you sleep in our cave. I… I'll find another place"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, don't' worry. I have plenty of friends! Someone would have a cave to share, right?" He joked and giggled, but Gloria didn't take it as funny. With Erik on her feet, she turned around and started the way back to their home.

Mumble was alone… and it was his fault. Once again, his big stupid beak had driven away everything he loved.

"I can't believe what I just did… I lost my kid's trust" He told to himself "But… I'd be flattered that someone speaks of me and Bo"

"The kid is not you, tallboy" A familiar voice spoke.

"Ramon?" Mumble turned around and found his short Adelie friend staring at him "What are you doing here?"

"I never left, socio… well actually I did, but I retuned after the winter" Ramon explained "Anyways, I heard about the party! And wherever there is a party, Ramon has to be!" His friend replied "I also came here looking for a young tall beauty. I want something exotic!"

"Three things: one, you are crazy; two, the mating season finished like three months ago, so you won't find any female available; three, you are crazy"

"Si, yeah, I got that one! But there is no need of being in mating season. Don Ramon is ever ready for chicas!" Mumble had only been talking with Ramon for about two minutes and he was already sick of him. He wasn't in good mood to speak with anyone, actually. He only wanted to alone.

"Please Ramon, I'm going through a bad moment right now. I don't want to hear…"

"I heard it and I want to help you"

"How could you help me?"

"I don't know, but I will thing in something… after I get an empress. Emperor-Land's ladies! Here's come Ramon!" He shouted and run into a crowd of adult emperor penguins. Mumble just sighed and walked away.

"_Two days… I have had a family for two days and I already screw everything up! When I will learn to keep my beak closed! Me and my pathetic fatherly skills"_

He sighed and started walking toward the ocean… maybe a nice time swimming could calm him a bit, and then he could think what to do with his son.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**And that was chapter 1. Just an introduction to the story.**

**And before you ask: HELL YEAH! I'm super-excited that now I can use Erik and Bo in the fic ^^**

**When I started writing the first fic, I made a list of possible songs that could appear in the story. The first fic had three more chapters that I expected, I made an interlude and now I'm making an official sequel; and I have to confess is that I'm running out of songs XD**

**So if you have some recommendation, it'll be received XD**

**Well, read and review telling me if liked it or not (In that case tell me why, so I can improve my writing for the next time)**

**Read you soon ;)**


	2. Rhythm nation

**Let's make the things more interesting, shall we?**

**Usually, I don't like to add new characters in my stories. I use the original ones or I give the extras some minor scenes… but not this one.**

**Let's add another female in Mumble's life, just to see what happen. If my inspiration tells me to go on with this, she would have a big role in the future.**

**Are you getting nervous? Good… because that was the idea XD**

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**Chapter 2: Rhythm nation**

It was still very early in the morning and a fluffy feathered penguin was returning from the ocean coast. Mumble had spent the last hour fishing the best fishes he could find. Three big ones for Gloria and several small ones for Erik. He didn't swallow them since it would probable that Erik wouldn't accept to receive food from him now, so he was carring them on his flippers. Gloria would have to pre-digest them this time.

He soon reached the entrance of his cave. His wife, with his child between her legs, was sleeping far from the entrance. He sighed, knowing that his presence there could cause even more problems. Erik seemed to be really hurt last day. He wanted to apologize… but it wasn't the right moment. So, making sure to not wake up his family, he left the fish in the floor and walked away.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

The spring had arrived to Antarctica and the ice began to melt, revealing huge extensions of water that had been frozen for three months. This was completely normal and the penguins were actually waiting for it… however, far away from Emperor-Land or any other inhabited territory, the spring had come much more hotter than usual. The thin ice had disappeared, and now, huge blocks of ice were separating from the continent and left adrift in the cold Antarctic Ocean.

One in particular was just enormous. It all began with a little crack in the ice, but the water of the melted snow began to fall for this crack, enlarging it and enlarging it; until a piece of ice with the size of a small country broke apart from Antarctica.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

Mumble and some other penguin were reunited behind a huge hill in the middle of Emperor-Land, discussing the last details of the welcome party. Under this hill, almost every penguin of every generation was waiting.

"So, it is decided?" One male penguin asked and everyone nodded "My daughter and Mumble will open the show"

"And then, anyone who have a song to sing will be allow to participate" Another penguin added.

"And the chicks will have their own little party! Maybe some of them found their song earlier and want to share it!" Miss Viola concluded.

"Ok, come on everyone. Let give Mumble and my daughter some privacy, so they can prepare" The first penguin spoke again and he and the others went down the hill and lost into the crowd.

The only two penguin who remained there were Mumble and a female. She was almost the same height than him, but she seems to be younger, maybe for a generation. She wasn't an adult, because she still had some fluffy feathers; but at the same time, she wasn't a chick. She probably was in the last year of Penguin High School.

This girl seemed to be quite nervous. Not because she would have to sing in front of everyone, but because she would have to sing with a male who already had a mate. Since Gloria couldn't sing with him, Mumble had to choose someone, and he had chosen her to be his co-singer. Rather flattered, rather scared, she accepted to sing with him. After all, singing with a nation's hero wasn't an opportunity that came very often… and at the same time, singing with someone's mate it wasn't very well seen. But the Elders had explained everyone why it was going to be like that… except for Gloria, that wasn't in the reunion.

But it wasn't for that that she had accepted to sing. She and Mumble had met years ago at school. She went to another class, but they used to meet and chat with Gloria. Actually, apart from Mumble, she was the only friend that Gloria had during her chickhood. And also, Mumble was a kind of private teacher for the girl. She also had had problems with learning to sing, and as well as he did with Gloria, he defended her and always encouraged her.

Mumble, in the other hand, wasn't very focused in the show for being nervous. He was quite… distant. His son's words were dancing in his head. But he remembered that, even though he had had serious argues with his dad too (and the motives were similar), they always had worked out those problems; so, maybe if he apologized and gave Erik some time, everything would be ok at the end.

"Are you… are you sure that Gloria is… ok with this?" The young female suddenly asked, taking Mumble out of his thoughts.

"Eh?" Mumble stared at the girl several second, trying to understand what she had said. He wasn't paying attention at her at all "With… with what, Katherine?" Mumble asked, naively.

"Well… you and me, you know… singing together... in a celebration for the couples"

"Yeah, don't worry about that, Kath"

"Did you ask her?"

"No… but I don't need to. She knows that she is my first and only one" Mumble replied, very confident "Besides, you are too young for me" He added, chuckling, while Kath narrowed her eyes. She didn't like to be treated like a chick.

"I can assure you, Mr. Mumble, that I'm very mature" She replied, filling her chest with air and making a proud posture.

"Oh, you are? And those fluffy feathers?" Mumble teased, referring to the many infant feathers that she still had in her chest and neck. Kathy quickly covered her fluffy chest and turned around embarrassed, with her face blushing. At first, Mumble thought that it was funny and turned around, giving his back to her; but some seconds later, he began to hear a few sobs coming from the young female. Mumble turned around again just to see Katherine crying

Mumble instantly felt bad for her. When he was younger, he didn't like that the others penguins made jokes about his feathers and nicknamed him 'fuzzball'; but he got used to it, to the point that he almost liked to be called like that, and even the girls started to like that feature of him. However, his condition was due the accident when he was an egg. That a 'normal' penguin delay in changing his feathers was a sensitive issue. Kathy was still young, so she has plenty of time to change her feathers; but the other penguins of her generation had already change them all and that made her felt bad, even when the other penguins had never told her anything about her feathers.

"I'm sorry… Katherine… I didn't mean it like that" Mumble tried to comfort the young girl, putting a flipper on her shoulder. He had already hurt two penguins with his stupid beak… he wouldn't allow himself to do it again "You... you will change them soon… I'm sure"

"Yeah… I think so…" She sighted

"Come on, girl! Be patience. At least you will change them. Look at me! I'm a blue eyed fuzzball and I always going to be like this" Mumble joked, trying to cheer his friend up. The girl giggled and turned around to face Mumble smiling, showing that his plan had worked "Please, don't cry"

"Ok… I… I won't" She said, wiping away the few tears that she still had in her eyes with her flipper.

"That's better… and believe me; when you reach the adulthood, you will want to be a chick again" He added, causing her to laugh.

He laughed too, but was cut by the sudden contact of a warm body. He looked down and found Katherine with her flippers wrapped around his body. He didn't want to be rude (He had just hurt her feelings and he didn't want to do it again), so he allowed her hug him a little; she wasn't doing something bad, after all. But suddenly, she began to caress his back lovingly with her flippers… that crossed the line. It felt good, he admitted it; but it wasn't right…

"Erhm… what are you doing?" He asked coldly, making Kath understand that he was angry. The girl shot her eyes open and quickly broke the hug, blushing madly.

"I-I-I sorry, Mr. Mumble… I-I-I don't know what… what happened… I…" She desperately tried to excuse herself, but she was too nervous to think in what to say.

"Hey, it's ok" Mumble calmed her down. He understood it. She needed to be comforted in that moment and she kind of got carried away. She didn't do it because she really wanted… or… she did? "But, don't do that again, ok?"

"Pardon me, Mr. Mumble. I promise that I won't" Katherine replied.

"So, let's… start now, if you are ok with it"

"Yeah, sure! Let's finish with this" Mumble offered his flipper and the female accepted, walking along him until they came insight of the crowd.

_Five… four…  
Five, four three, two_

Everyone cheered at the couple of penguins when they start their show.

**Mumble: **_Penguins of the world, unite!  
Strength in numbers, we can get it right!_

**Katherine: **_ONE TIME!_

**M & K and the crowd: **_We are a part of the Rhythm nation!_

**K:**___With music by our side  
to break what now divides  
Let's work together to improve our way of life_

**M: **_This is the test!  
No struggle, no progress!  
Lend a find to help your brother do his best_

**K: **_Sing it up now!_

**M & K and the crowd: **_Let's dance! Let's shout!  
Shake your body down to the ground!_

_Let's dance! Let's shout!  
Shake your body down to the ground!_

"Woao! You are better than I expected!" Mumble exclaimed.

"That's because I've got a terrific teacher"

"Well, I've got one last lesson to teach you" Mumble replied. He then began to tap his feet, like he had done since he born. At first it was a slow and gentle tap, but he increased the speed until it reached a continuous tapping sound.

"W-w-what are you doing?" Katherine asked puzzled. She knew that Mumble could do that, but why he was doing it now? "That is not what we planned"

"It's time to improvise!" Mumble shouted, as he spun around and continued to make his Happy Feet's dance "Can you sing along the tap?"

Kath listened carefully to the sound made by Mumble's feet. They were similar to the rhythm of a song she knew pretty well.

**Katherine: **_I don't need no TV?_

She sang, a little unsure. Mumble nodded and continued tapping, encouraging her to keep on. She then smiled and do what Mumble had asked her to do.

**K: **_I don't need no TV! I don't need no news!__  
__All I need is a bumpin' beat to bump away my blues._

Mumble knew the song too. It was one of his favorites.

**Mumble: **_I don't care what people say!  
I'm gonna do it, gonna do my way__  
__Gonna let it all out and do my thing_

**K & M: **_Boom boom boom and a bang bang bang__  
__Oooh-Do your thing!_

**M: **_Do your thing!_

**K:**_ Make my body sing__!_

**Penguin: **_We are a part of the Rhythm nation!_

Due to the brisk rhythm of the song, every penguin there started to dance the "Happy Feet" dance. Mumble offered his flipper to Katherine, inviting her to dance with him, invitation that she accepted.

"Let's be a bit stupid now, ok?" Mumble said playfully.

"Huh?" Katherine didn't know what Mumble was talking about.

"You just listen and sing along with me… if you can keep the pace, of course"

"Oh, yeah? Bring it on, twinkletoes!" She replied. Mumble smiled

**Mumble: **_Bitty bitty boom,woo!_

**Katherine: **_Bitty bitty boom,woo!_

**M:**_ Zippido,zippido,da,huh!_

**K:**_ Zippido,zippido,da,huh!_

**M: **_Boom bang boom bang bang!_

**K: **_Boom bang boom bang bang!_

**M: **_Boom bang boom bang bang!_

**K: **_Boom bang boom bang bang!_

**M: **_Do you thing!_

Mumble then spun Katherine and grab her with both flippers.

**K: **_You make my body sing!_

**Penguins: **_We are a part of the rhythm nation!_

**M & K:**_ Do you thing!_

"Mumble!" Gloria's voice interrupted the dance.

"Gloria?" Mumble asked, while he accidently dropped his dance partner. His mate was staring at him with widened eyes "Gloria, baby! I-I-I can explain this… I…"

"You will, but not now. There is something more important" She replied "I calmed Erik down a bit, not it's your time"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes… you are a great father, Mumble. I know you can solve this" she comforted and rubbed her neck against his. Mumble accepted the kiss and nodded, then he walked toward his home.

Gloria took a last look at the blushed female in front of her.

"Hi, Kath"

"H-h-hi, G-Gloria" She managed to replied, totally embarrassed "Look, what you saw… it wasn't what… we were just singing… and…"

"Hey, don't worry. You are my friend and I know that you'd never try anything with Mumble. Now, I have to go, see ya!" Gloria said and followed her mate.

Unknown for the inhabitants of Emperor-Land; while they were having fun, the giant floating iceberg created some hours ago had reached the limit of the Antarctic Ocean, entering in the Atlantic Ocean. But the streams of water of this ocean were going in the opposite direction, so they redirected the course of the iceberg, setting his course directed to Emperor-Land.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**So, that was chapter 2! ^^**

**Review and tell me what you think about this new event XD and if you liked or not the chapter overall. **

**Read you soon ;)**


	3. Doubts again?

**Sorry for taking so long in update, but my health has not been the best lately and I guess that had affected my creativity.**

**Don't worry, now I'm a little better. Still, I think that this chapter will not be the best of my works… but, at least it would introduce more deeply the story.**

**By the way, StarSource: I regretted what I said (Mua ha ha ha ha)**

**Just kidding XD I'm still planning to do what I told you ;)**

**Well, I don't want to steal more of your time… so, here's chapter three ^^**

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**Chapter 3: Doubts again?**

"Where… where is Erik?" Mumble asked as soon as he arrived to his cave. He was singing along his kind of student, Katherine, when Gloria saw them dancing together (and very close to each other). Instead of getting mad, she had told Mumble that Erik was calmer now and that he should speak with him about the last day. But the cave was empty.

"Well, he is visiting his grandparents. My mum didn't know him, so I thought it'd be a good idea" Gloria, who was at the entrance of the cave, replied.

"Oh… well, that's good. Well, if he is not here, I guess I should find him" He said as he walked toward the exit, planning to go to Maurice's cave; but Gloria stood in front of him preventing him to advance "Honey, what are you doing?" He asked, confused by the behavior of his mate.

"Well…" She said, as she crossed her flipper and narrowed her eyes "Happens that I spent the whole night without sleep, thinking that my husband had hurt my chick's feelings and that if he would be ok as well. That maybe my husband was suffering or that he could be worried that he wouldn't be able to speak to his chick anymore… but I found him really calmed… singing and dancing very romantic with another female!" She shouted the last part, in a tone of voice that made Mumble's blood run cold. He had never seen her so angry. (**Come on! You really thought that Gloria would be so forgiving? Seeing a penguin dancing and singing with another is almost the same that seeing him kissing with another penguin)**

"But I-I-I thought... you didn't care… you said it"

"I didn't care? That I didn't care?" Gloria laughed, but was an aggressive laugh that told Mumble that he was in serious troubles "I don't like to make my problems public… but how the heck you could think that I wouldn't care the fact that my mate is cheating me?" She shouted again.

"Honey, we were just singing together. We didn't…"

"Oh, you were just singing together! Now I'm really better. Come here, give me a kiss and let's forget everything" She said sarcastically, but soon she returned to her threatening voice "My parents sang together too one time… ONLY ONCE! And look!" She said and pointed to herself. Mumble got the message pretty well.

"Honey, I wasn't singing with her for… that…" He replied, blushing at the only thought of what Gloria had insinuated.

"Stop calling me 'honey'!" She shouted.

"But… I'm your mate"

"Apparently, not anymore. Now it seems that you want to be the mate of a school girl. She is a chick, Mumble. She didn't even finish school! What did you see in her?"

"Gloria please, stop!" Mumble shouted this time "Listen to you! You are talking about your best friend and your mate and father of your child like if they were the worst rubbish of the world! We were singing in a party and that's it! We sang together because the Elders wanted two penguins to open the show. I tell you that nothing happened between us, why you don't believe me?" She didn't answer anything. Instead, she turned around with her flippers crossed. "Look at me" He commanded, but Gloria didn't move. He then forced her to turn around with his flippers "Loot at me eyes" He commanded again. Gloria this time did what Mumble had asked.

"Ok, now what?"

"Tell what you see…" He asked. Gloria was too angry to pay attention to what she thought it was a kind of game to avoid the issue.

"Mumble, I'm not in good mood for jokes right now. If you…"

"Are these the eyes of a liar, Gloria?" Mumble raised Gloria's face with his flipper, almost forcing her to look into his eyes. Only then she really focused on them… those deep blue eyes. As soon as their gazes met, her anger just disappeared. How those eyes could always calm her with only one look? Those eyes didn't belong to a liar; they belonged to Mumble, her entire life's love.

Now, without the anger blinding her mind, she was able to think coherently. Mumble could have gotten any female in the colony if he wanted… and still he chose her. He traveled to the end of the world to save the colony and also convinced Noah to let her graduate. He loved her and she loved back, they had a chick to prove it. Why would he ruin all that after all he had being through? It didn't make sense.

"No…" She replied dropping her head, after two minutes of awkward silence "I know you wouldn't do that but…"

"What Gloria? I'm your mate, you can tell me"

"I'm scared, Mumble" Gloria replied "I'm scared that you leave me alone"

"That I leave you…? Gloria we had had this conversation hundreds of times! Look, my pa had sung with other females in the past, apart from my mom, but just for fun! Not for love. And I'm sure that your pa had done it too"

"But my situation is different, Mumble. If your parents or mine had problems or doubts, they sing together and everything turns alright. If any female sings her Heartsong in front of your pa, he pays no attention to it because your mom's song is in his head and heart… right?" Gloria explained.

"Well… yeah, I think so"

"But if you ever get interested or you even if you like another girl's song…"

"Sweetheart, you are overreacting. I…"

"Mumble, it's ok… I mean, you are male and that's natural…" That confession was rather hard to do, judging by her tone of voice "B-b-ut if you began to doubt… I-I-I wouldn't have anything to bring you back to me… because I can't sing" Traces of nervousness began to appear in her voice, which became more evident with each word "That's why I'm always overreacting. I'm just afraid, Mumble, and confused too. I have no way to show you that I love you. I wish there was a way to prove you my love, but the only way we penguins has to do that is by singing, and since I can't, I just… I just…" She took a deep breath and dropped her flipper "I just wouldn't know what to do if you leave me…"

Mumble admitted that she had a valid point. He actually had doubts about his relationship with her; he had them since the first day he began to get closer to her. But what it was bothering him the most in that moment was the fact that he had actually enjoyed of Kath's singing very much and also he had liked the sensation of her body close to his. What if Gloria was right? What if he actually was having a kind of crush on his student, who still was technically a chick? Was that wrong? Or it was right? Guin was playing with him again? So many thought were dancing in the fluffy feathered head of Mumble. if only Gloria could sing, they could erase all those doubts.

But Gloria was his mate and mother of his child and that was all that mattered. What it's more, although he had never heard Katherine's Heartsong; he knew that like he sang in that weird style called Opera, it was impossible that her song fitted in his. Maybe that's why he chose Gloria, because her silent complemented him.

Gloria, due the time Mumble spent thinking, began to think the worst. Mumble noticed that she began to sob and as soon as he regained control of his body, he pulled her into a hug, pressing their bodies against each other.

**_I love you when you're happy, I love you when you cry_**_**  
**_**_I love you when you're silly, o_****_r when you're feeling shy_**

**Mumble began to sing**** in a softly and melodious voice, like if he was singing a lullaby to a little child. **

**_I love you in the daytime, I love you through the night_**_**  
**_**_I love you when you make mistakes,_****_ or when you get it right_**

Gloria relaxed and snuggled into her mate's neck, as he continued his song.

**_I love you when you're working, I love you when you play_**_**  
**_**_Oh, I_****_'ll love you forever… and I love you today.  
I lo…_**

"How I wish I could sing with you, Mumble" Gloria sighed, interrupting the song. Her sadness in this phrase was more than evident "Tell me something…"

"What you want to know?"

"Is… is Katherine a good singer?" She just was curious about what Mumble thought about that girl.

"She is a quite... talented girl. I'm sure that she has a bright future" Gloria wasn't surprised at all. Like she never learned to sing, she couldn't judge other penguin's singing; but many penguins had commented to her that Kath was a remarkable singer. She was one of the candidates to be the top of the class of her generation. Gloria had another question, though; one which answer she didn't know if she wanted to hear it.

"What do you think of her? You know, not as a friend or student. I mean as... female"

"You are still worried about that, Gloria?" Gloria nodded.

"Yes… I suppose I'm kind of jealous of her… because she could sing with you and me not"

"Compared with you, Katherine is like… a krill to me: tiny and simple, nothing special" Mumble said, causing Gloria to smile

"You are so mean… and I love that part of you" She said playfully "So, if she is that… what am I?"

"You are… you are… you are… like a whale" Gloria's eyes widened.

"Oh, Mumble, you are so cu…" It took her a while to understand what Mumble had said, and when she did, she didn't like it "Because I'm fat!" She asked (shouting, actually), shocked by the comparison.

"No, of course not. Because you are majestic, the queen of the seas; sweet and loving, but indomitable and wild at the same time"

"Oh, Mumble…" She said, as she tightened the hug "That was the weirdest and most romantic thing that you had ever said me"

"Believe me, I've got betters than that. But my mind can't think clearly right now" Gloria giggled at Mumble statement.

"Twinkletoes…"

"Yes, honey?... I-I-I can call you honey, right?" Mumble teased.

"Of course you can… and I think you are forgetting something"

"Really?" Gloria nodded.

"I asked for a kiss some time ago, and I haven't received…" She said seductively, but she wasn't able to finish because Mumble's beak unite with her.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

Far away from Emperor-Land, the big floating iceberg had already re-entered in the Antarctic waters and also began to speed up due to the wind. Even some bug ice pillars weren't able to stop it. The iceberg just destroyed them as soon as it crashed.

Its course was a straight line to Emperor-Land

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

Mumble and Gloria were still doing their saliva exchanging, when suddenly…

"Oh, Guin…" The young couple stopped and directed their gaze to the voice owner, who turned to be Gloria's mother, Michelle, who was standing a few step outside the cave "I think we are interrupting something" She said, giggling. Mumble and Gloria looked down and notices the little Erik in his grandma's feet, with his eyes covered by Michelle's flippers. The two lovers blushed as they broke their hug and walked to greet the visitor.

"Good morning, Mrs. Michelle" Mumble greeted. He always had showed respect to his mother-in-law every time they met, that's why Michelle liked him so much as husband of his daughter.

"Hi mom, did you have problems with Erik? Gloria asked.

"He is an angel" Michelle replied "And I was about to ask you how you were, but judging by what I just saw, I guess that you are more than just fine" She added, laughing at the end of the statement. Mumble and Gloria looked at each other and blushed. They loved each other and they weren't afraid of showing it, but Gloria was kind of shy and didn't like other penguins knew about their intimacy… and less considering that that other penguin was her mother. Michelle bowed her neck and pushed gently Erik out of her feet. The chick, who didn't have said a word since they arrived there, walked in silence and hid between her mother's legs.

"Son, are you… are you still mad with me?" Mumble asked, but he hadn't got a replied. Instead Erik did a gesture with his flipper, asking his mother to approach her head. She did that and Erik whispered something to her.

"Excuse us, but Erik wants to talk with me in private" Gloria said, and walked back inside the cave. When Gloria was away from them, Michelle took her chance to talk to Mumble about something that she wanted to say him since yesterday.

"Listen, Mumble…" She said, gaining his attention "I know your parents are friends of Maurice. I like you singing, you are truly amazing. I also think you are a nice guy… and Gloria seems to be really happy with you"

"Well, thank you. I…" He tried to speak, but was cut.

"But if you ever make my grandchick cry like you did yesterday… I won't kill you…" She wasn't speaking with his usual sweet voice anymore. Her voice now could terrify to Guin itself" She leaned her head and approached her beak to Mumble's hear "But I swear that I will make sure that you won't have another egg… never again… and the girl won't be the problem" She pulled her head back "Got it, handsome?" Mumble just nodded. He was too scared to speak "Good… now if you excuse me, I have some fishing to do" Michelle said and waddled away.

As he watched her disappear in the crowd of penguin, Mumble was thinking that maybe the famous saying 'messing with a grandmother is suicide' wasn't so exaggerated after all. His attention now focused in his family, and especially, in Erik. He walked into his home, finding his wife and son whispering things to each other. His curiosity took control of him, so he hid behind a rock, trying to hear what they were talking but remaining unseen.

"…at least give him another change, I'm sure that he didn't do it with bad intentions. He only wanted to tease you, like he always do with all his friends…" Gloria told to Erik.

"But I'm not one his friend, I'm his son. He shouldn't do that with me" Erik whispered in replied.

"Erik, he is your father… the only one you will ever have. He won't do anything to harm you, son; he would die for you, if it was necessary"

"I doubt that, mom"

"Sweetheart, you haven't spent so much time with him as I did. You don't know him as I do. You don't know the kind of action he is capable of when one of his beloved penguin needs help. I know that maybe he acted like a dope in front of your friends…" Mumble narrowed his eyes "…but don't you remember how he treated you before that? Or how happy you were playing with him?" Erik took his time to think about it. He remember the happiness of his father when he first saw him… and also the face of sadness that his father had when he shouted to him. He really seemed to regret the things he said, and what he said wasn't something so bad. It was exactly what he had told him, and he never mentioned that it was a secret, so how Mumble was going to now that it was.

"Mmm… I guess that you are right, ma. Maybe I reacter… oviracted… over... ARGGG!" He shouted, angry with himself because he couldn't pronounce the right word "How is it, mom?"

"You 'overreacted'" Gloria corrected "And that's a bad habit that you apparently inherited from me, son. Try not to do it again, it won't take you anywhere. Believe me, I and your father had argued several times because of that"

"I think now I own dad an apolo… apolo…" He sighed in defeat realizing that he had lost the word again "I have to say I'm sorry" In that moment, Mumble got out of his hideout and walked to his family as he hadn't heard anything.

"Hi family" He greeted and faced his son "Erik, I know that I behaved like a dope, but I swear it wasn't my intention" Gloria was proud that Mumble accepted his mistake, though she was surprised that Mumble used almost the same words that she did, but she thought it was only a coincidence. Mumble actually didn't mean to use them, but as soon as he faced his son, he got so nervous that he couldn't think in any others "Please, forgive me son. But I'm your father, and you are my only son and I… I… I'm just nervous… I don't know what to do, I…" He stopped talking because he felt his son little flippers hugging his leg.

"I… I forgive you pa… I'm sorry for shouting at you" The little chick said.

"It's me who have to apologies, son. I didn't know that I couldn't say that in front of Bo. I just wanted to make you a joke… I'm not very good, like you could see… but I have an idea" Erik released his father leg and took some steps back. Gloria approached to her family, because she got interested in what Mumble may propose "The party in the square isn't over yet. So how about if we go to the square and we sing together for the colony? Just you and me, like father and son"

"Mumble, are you sure about this? Isn't he a little… little to sing? And if he turns out to be… like me?" Gloria asked.

"What do you mean with that, ma?" Erik asked.

"Well… I can't sing…"

"But we'll never know if we don't allow him to try it, Gloria. Come on! Don't worry, baby. Is only singing! What could go wrong? Besides, I will be with him in every moment" Gloria nodded, though she wasn't very convinced. She still thought that Erik was too young to sing; but knowing Mumble, even if she denied to the proposal, he would find the way to convince her and take Erik to the square anyways "So what do you think? Are you in, champ?"

"Ehm… ok" Erik simply replied. He wasn't convinced too, but he wanted to improve his relationship with his father.

"Alright! On my feet, son. Today we will show Emperor-Land what the Happy Feet's men are capable of!" Erik jumped into his pa's feet and walked out of their cave in the direction of the main square. Gloria wasn't very sure if she should go or not. She still didn't like public events since she couldn't participate in them; but if her son was about to sing in front of everyone for the first time, she had to be there to hear and support him. She just really hoped that he wasn't like her.

If only they had known what was going to happen that day…

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Three chapters and I have not even told the first 10 minutes of the film O.o**

**Gosh, this is going to be a long fic :/ I wouldn't surprise if this end with 20 chapters ¬¬**

**By the way: I got the idea of Michelle's treat when I was doing a zapping in Tv and I saw that in some random movie XD and I thought that it was a good idea for my fic, so I modified it and included it here XD. Liked it?**

**Well, thanks for reading.**

**Review and tell me what you think.**

**Read you soon ;)**


	4. Farewells

**Hello my fishy readers ;)**

**Well, I thought that maybe I can use these moments before the real Happy Feet 2's plot begin, to develop the story better.**

**Why wasn't Boadicea's father when the whole thing happened? And Atticus's mother? Mmmm… well, I will try to explain that XD in a simple way, nothing spectacular.**

**Also, I want to use them a bit more before I start with the main ideas that I have planned… and believe me, you are going to like them XD**

**So, the first part is going to be starred by Boadicea, Atticus and their families with a lot of irrelevant (referring to future events), yet very-hard-to-write information… AND THEN we will come back to the main story.**

**Also, I want to say to that guy who said that he REALLYx11 wanted another chapter that: First, I'm so glad that you liked so much my story XD I REALLYx12 hope seeing you in the next chapters ;)**

**Second: Buddy, writing these things is not easy XD I have to invent a good plot, develop characters' personality, think in funny or sad dialogues and scenes, etc. In my first story it was easier since I only had two main characters to develop and make them interact. But now, apart from Mumble and Gloria, I have Erik, Bo and Atticus (and their parents) too; not to mention the other character I added. I can spend a whole week thinking in what I can write before actually starting to write. Sometimes I do a good job, sometimes not; but I have to at least TRY to write the best that I can.**

**Well, that's all.**

**Happy reading ^^**

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**NOTE (yes, another one): **Remember that two high mountain walls that were at the entrance of where the penguins were dancing and singing at the beginning of HF 2? Well, in my story, that is not the border of the territory, just the beginning of the inhabited area. The limit of the territory it's several kilometers ahead.

Take it in this way: In my home town (Maria Grande) the "Welcome" signal that marks the real town's limit it is 1 km. ahead of the first building of the city (Don't ask me why, because I don't know). So it would be something like that. When I refer to the "border", remember that I'm not referring to that entrance.

Did you understand?

YES: Very well then, enjoy the chapter ;)

NO: ¬¬ just… press the red [X] button of the navigator's window and don't disturb the other readers.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Chapter 4: Farewells**

Near the border of Emperor-Land territory, many penguin couples were reunited. Two, in particular, were having a conversation with their chick.

"WHAT! What do you mean he isn't going!" The little fluffy feathered female penguin complained with her parents. Both of them were rather old to be parents… but they were. Guin works in mysterious ways, after all.

"I'm sorry, Bo. But there is nothing you can do…" The female of the couple spoke. Miss Viola was her name, and she had been one of the teachers of Penguin Elementary for many seasons. She had quitted this season for being able to participate in the mating ritual, since she finally had found her soulmate after years of trying and failing.

"That is true. But do not worry, my darling. I am sure you will find that party entertaining" The male of the couple added. He was Arthur, but he was better known as Mr. McGregor. He was a school teacher too; he taught swimming techniques to the chicks that had one year or more, because more or less at that age the chicks began to change their fluffy infant feathers for adult waterproof feathers. Still, they use to remain under the care of their parents until they are five years old (At that age they graduate, become adults and earn the rights of every citizen of Emperor-Land, like the right to participate in the mating ritual, for example)

"But… h-how do you know?" Boadicea insisted.

"It is unknown for us, but we heard Mr. Mumble and his offspring interchanging hard words and we…" Her father replied. He always was that formal, no matter who was speaking with him. He learned that quality from his father.

"What?" Asked Boadicea due the strange chose of words that his father was doing. Bo and Viola often understood him, but there were cases where they just nodded, not knowing what to answer since they didn't know what he had said. This time it was one of those.

"We don't know, but we heard Erik arguing really badly with his pa… so Arthur and…" Miss Viola tried to explain the things better, but her mate interrupted her.

"McGregor, honey" Miss Viola rolled her eyes.

"Whatever… so your father and I think that it's very unlikely that he go"

"Then I don't want to go!"

"I am sorry, darling; but I must go to procure food for you and your mother has to perform their duties as a teacher" Her father explained… but she actually didn't understand anything… again… she instead gave her mother a WTF's face and Miss Viola got it pretty well.

"He have to fish, I have to look after the chicks" Miss Viola clarified the phrase of her husband

"Right, indeed… so you cannot remain here alone, you must go with your mother"

"After all, it's going to be a lot of chicks to chat, Boadicea. I'm sure you won't get bored there"

"But… why pa has to go? He could stay with me" The little said. Boadicea loved both of her parents. She was really closed to her mom, but his father was always her hero.

"It is my duty as the progenitor and male of the family to provide aliments to you, since your mother is not…"

"Sweetie…" Miss Viola cut her husband's phrase to point something "… could you be… a little less… you? At least in front of Bo"

"I… I-I could try… I guess…" He said "Ok… ehrm… I have to go fishing now because, although your ma brought plenty of fish in her belly, that's not gonna last long… so I'm gonna try to catch more. I'm leaving today because I don't like parties and I'm not going to attend this one, so I and many others adults that thinks as the way I do are going to go now to save time. The rest of the adults will leave tomorrow… erhm… you… you liked that way?" Arthur explained, doing his best to only use the simplest words he had in the dictionary of his brain. This time both Boadicea and her mother understood perfectly, but Miss Viola didn't like what she heard.

"No… I didn't…" Miss Viola replied.

"B-but y-you asked me to…"

"I fell in love with a male that was always saying strange words…" She said, hugging him "And I want him back…" Her mate smiled at her phrase and both of the nuzzled in each other's necks.

"Mom! Dad! I'm still here!" The little girls told to her parents, covering her eyes with her flipper. Both adults separated and giggled.

"Boadicea, when you grow up, you will like to do this" Her mother joked.

She didn't know, but Bo had already try that once, and she had liked it. Still… seeing her parents sharing their affection was something that she found a bit… distasteful.

"Well, my love… it is time for me to say goodbye…" Arthur said, as he gave Viola another quick neck kiss and walked to his daughter "Be strong, my little girl… and take care of your… mama" He told to Bo, as she hugged his leg and he returned the gesture.

"Be careful and please, come back soon… my strange talking pa" She joked, making him giggle. After a few second, Boadicea finally released her father and he, without saying another word, walked to the exterior of the territory. He took one last look to his beloved nation before disappearing in the horizon... a tear rolling down his cheek. He didn't try to say a longer farewell since he felt that he was about to cry for having to abandon his family, even if it was a temporary departure. He didn't want them to see him so vulnerable.

"When he will come back, mom?" The little Bo suddenly asked.

"In about two week, dear"

"Will he… will he be ok? Isn't a lot of dangers out there?"

"Not dangers, challenges… and every challenge is an opportunity… never forget that"

"Why he had to go for so long, ma? Didn't the amount of fish already normalized?" She knew about the situation that had threatened the penguins of Emperor-Land some time ago. She also knew that that situation had already been solved… and yes, Boadicea also liked to use some of the words of her father vocabulary, even when something she didn't fully understand them.

"Yes, darling… but as well as we do, the fish also migrate… so we have to follow them. There aren't many fish in the waters nearby, so your pa had to travel to a distant shore to catch enough" Her mother explained, but quickly realized something "Ok, Bo… let's get going to the square… I can't arrive late"

"Ok, mom…" The little girl sighed. It wasn't a very happy day for her. Her father had gone and her friend wasn't going to go the only opportunity they would have to meet each other before school… which it was going to begin in four months!

"Want to walk or I carry you?"

"You take me… I don't feel like walking" Bo replied, as she settled between her mother's legs. Her mother smiled to her bad moods. She found them cute. But wasn't time to talk about that, she had to get to the square quickly. Those little chicks weren't going to take care of themselves.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Meanwhile, in another point of the territory border: **

Another couple of penguins were having a similar conversation about why one of them had to go again to fish outside the territory since the fish had already returned.

"And that's why mommy has to go now" The female concluded "So Atticus, you'd better don't make any mischief, ok?"

"Got it, mom" The young (and rather fat) male chick answered "I'll not cause any trouble"

"That's my little boy" His mother said, as she hugged him. She was going again to go the fishing trip, not her mate. The reason was that she didn't trust that Seymour (her mate) was a very good fisher, since she always wanted only the best pieces for feeding their son. She wanted to go herself. So she… gave all the fish she had caught in the first trip to Seymour and he would have to feed Atticus with it in rations. Trust me when I tell you that you don't want to know how she did.

"Isabelle… please be careful, babe" Seymour said to his wife, as he wrapped her with his flippers and pulled her into a hug

"I will, my big tough boy… I will" She said, and then they shared a neck-kiss. Atticus just covered his eyes. I wasn't that he found those things ugly, but they just seemed to… corny, for him "Bye, Seymour… take care of our child…" She said as she broke the hug and started to walk away.

"Bye, baby" Seymour shouted, raising and waving a flipper from side to side, in signal of farewell.

"Bye, mom" Atticus added, doing the same that his father. Unexpectedly, after walking some meters, Isabelle turned around and pointed to Atticus.

"And son… if your father speaks to another female to much… let me know, ok?"

"Sure, mom" The chick shouted in replied. His mother winked at him and continued her way out of the territory.

"Hey, son..." Seymour spoke, after Isabelle disappeared in the horizon "It wasn't seriously… that about telling your mama… right?"

"Sorry, pa. She's the one bringin' the fish, so she's the boss"

"Jeje… you'r kiddin'… right?"

"I'm dead serious, man" Atticus replied, crossing his little flippers.

"Come on! Chill out, son! Could we… make a deal?"

"Well… I guess that if I'd Erik to chat with… I'd be too busy to keep an eye on anybody" Atticus was referring to the fact that his parents had told him that it was unlikely that Erik went to the party, since had argued with his father. Atticus hinted that if his father wanted his silence, he would have to make Erik go to the party… and to do that he would have to convince Mumble to convince his son! Mumble was very stubborn, and if his chick was the half of that than him… this task wouldn't be easy at all.

"Arhg…" Seymour sighted "Ok… deal"

"Then, you can chat with whoever you want"

"Now, hop on my feet, son. We gotta hotfoot it to the square" Atticus obeyed to his father's command and both of them set their course to the center of the territory, where the party were already up.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Meanwhile, with the Happy Feet fa…**

"But Mumble, I still think this is not a good idea" An adult female penguin told to her mate, while they were making their way to the square too. Between the male's legs, a little blue eyed chick swayed on the feet of his father.

"Gloria, honey; take it easy! It will be just one song! I'm not asking him to make an entire concert all by himself!"

"I'm still worried Mumble… have you even decide which song are you going to sing?"

"Yes, I actually did. I have a song that I was going to sing with Ka… erhm… with Seymour… but now I want to sing it with my son" Mumble quickly lied, without thinking very much. Actually, the song he had in mind was supposed to be he and Kath's second performance, but that's not going to happen now. It would be totally disrespectful doing that now in front of Gloria, because he was now aware of his mate's fear.

"Well, I'm still not feeling so… Wait… a song that you were going to sing with Seymour!"

"Yeah… yes, I… have been practicing since winter… before you return"

"I hope that that song is appropriate for Erik's age, because if you mention what it's usually mentioned on every single song sung by Seymour, I swear that I'll slap you in your beak until my flipper bleed" Seymour's song were very well know to be… not appropriate for chicks. He was a rapper and he usually sang those song too quickly, so the chicks couldn't understand them very well; still, their parents could… this is one of the reasons why he usually didn't sing his own songs in public.

"Don't worry! It's not one of those songs, it's one of mine"

"Oh… that is really comforting" She said sarcastically. Mumble had some songs in his repertory that wasn't that innocent too.

"Honey, that was just one time" Before becoming mates, even before graduating; Mumble used to go to student parties with Gloria (since if she didn't go with him, the other penguins wouldn't accept Gloria in them) and in one of those, Mumble sang with another female a song that Gloria didn't like at all… not mentioning the dance. You know how wild a student's party can be.

"Well, I don't want my chick to be like you" Gloria replied, but quickly regretted it. The idea was fine; the words she chose, weren't.

"Oh! Thank you! I never thought I meant so much for you" Mumble said sarcastically, as he turned to Gloria and rolled his eyes, before speeding up the pace. So many critics were really annoying. This conversation was starting to get his nerves.

"Mumble… I didn't mean that… I'm sorry, I…" Gloria apologized as she tried to keep the pace.

"It's… ok, Gloria" He was very upset by that time. Mumble was a penguin who hated that other penguin distrust of him when he knew what he was doing. One more critic and he really didn't know if he could control himself.

"So… Which song do you have in mind?" Gloria asked trying to change the subject.

"Well…" Mumble relaxed a little. At least his mate didn't doubt of him anymore "I was thinking in that song that MJ, that guy of our class, invented but never sang. He told us that we could sing it if we wanted to"

"You are talking about Michael?" Gloria remembered that male. He used to make fun of her during her chickhood, like most of the class. He wasn't a very good singer, but his ability to create songs for other penguins was more than remarkable and made him a very respected penguin. The last time they heard about him was in the graduation, he was going to stay in school and try to enter to the Emperor Council. It wouldn't be a surprise if he succeeded in that, since he was pretty smart too.

"Yeap, MJ for short. I already taught Erik the lyrics, so I think we are ready. It's not a very difficult song, after all. Right champ?" He said, looking down to his chick who only nodded.

"Mumble, I insist. I want to hear the song before letting Erik sing it" Gloria insisted. Mumble had had enough. He turned around, willing to shout at Gloria, but he stopped himself. He understood why Gloria was acting like that. She was very worried that other chicks made fun of her chick, like the chicks of her generation used to do with her.

"Honey, our song is a surprise" He told to her, while he approached and hugged her "I can't tell you. If I do, I'll ruin everything. I only ask you to trust in me a little more. I'll never teach our son something that I know he shouldn't learn… ok?"

"Ok…" She sighed "I trust in you, Mumble. I really do! I'm just worried. You know how hard my chickhood was… and I don't want that for Erik"

"Gloria, I told you once, and now I will tell you this again: nobody is going to laugh of him! I promise! If anyone even giggles of him, I assume all the responsibility"

"I only hope that…" Her prhase was cut by a sudden gasped. They quickly looked down and found their chick struggling between Mumble's legs and also one of Gloria's, which was right between Mumble's. Due to the hug, they were choking Erik (unintentional, of course) "Erik! Are you ok?" She said, breaking the hug and giving the little penguin enough space to breath. The chick fell and hit the snow, but he quickly stood up.

"I'm fine…" He simply said "Can I go to find my friends?" He asked.

"Of course, son. I still have to find Katherine and let her know that we are going to perform today. So, you have a couple of minutes to be with your friends"

"Thanks" The chicks said and shyly waddled away. As soon as he disappeared in the crowd of penguins, the concerning of Gloria increased.

"Maybe I should go with…" She said as she tried to follow her son, but Mumble stopped her.

"Baby, let him be. He will be fine. The worst thing that could happen to him now it's that Bo hug him too tight" Mumble joked. He and Gloria grinned and shared a sarcastic oh-that-would-be-so-terrible's face, before giggling and hugging again.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

The enormous iceberg that just a day ago seemed to be inoffensive, now had crashed against the huge walls of ice that protected the inner Antarctic sea. They couldn't offer any resistance… the iceberg simply destroy them completely, leaving no trace that there ever existed.

Then, Guin demonstrated that he had a strange sense of humor. The ancient and sacred place for the rite of passage, the place that lived in their heart, the place where all penguins burnt in Emperor-Land had visited once… suffered the same destiny…

From that on, the future generations of penguins wouldn't visit the Aurora's Glacier in their graduation… never again…

There was nothing now that could prevent it to reach Emperor-Land.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**Well, that was chapter 4.**

**I just want to say that this chapter was supposed to be way longer than this, but I realized that it was going to take me a long, long time… so, I decided to publish this in two chapters.**

**I want to excuse myself for taking so long in update saying that I was preparing a literature project for my school. I had to read 4 book and summarize them… it was not an easy task… and I haven't finished it yet! I still have to read one… but it's too boring!**

**I prefer reading Happy Feet's fanfics that those books ¬¬**

**Ok, that's all for now.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Read you soon. **


	5. Forming and breaking bonds

**Hello again!**

**This chapter is going to be long and a bit 'heavy' XD It's the longest thing I have ever wrote… so far…**

**It's kind of divide in two parts (because I was going to divide this in two chapters, but I decided that it'd be better if I left it like one), so maybe you can divide your review (if you want to leave one, of course) in two parts, telling me what do you think about each**

**By the way: Do you remember that scene in the original Happy Feet 1 where after the first time that Gloria and Mumble went to the ocean, Mumble jumped out of the water and landed on Gloria, ending in a quite… interesting position?**

**Well, I realized that I hadn't used that in the first fic… so… I guess that StarSource is not going to like the chapter XD**

**Happy Reading ^^**

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**Chapter 5: Forming and breaking bonds**

Mumble was making his way across the many penguins reunited in the square. They were taking a break after been all the morning singing and dancing. Now was the time of the chicks. The teachers were reuniting them in groups of 40 or 50, so they could chat and maybe, if someone wanted to, share a song with their classmates. Mumble was looking for one of these schools, since he knew that his student, Katherine, was a volunteer in one and she was helping the teachers to organize everything. He and Kath were supposed to sing again after the break, but now he wanted to ask her to let him sing with his son.

"Excuse me…" He said to a random penguin "Do you know where Katherine is? You know, the tall girl that still has fluffy feathers on her chest"

"Yeah! Your singing partner! Let me tell you that you make a cute couple" The other penguins answered. Judging by its voice, she was a female.

"I'm already married" Mumble answered, glaring at the female.

"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't know! I didn't see you in the singing ritual of the last season"

"Do you know where she is or not?"

"She is looking after the chicks of…"

"I don't want to be rude, but I just want to know where is she, not what she is doing. I'm an a hurry"

"Well, she is a few meter in that direction" The female said, pointing to the entrance of the territory. There was only one class in that direction, the class that used to be Miss Viola's one. So probably Erik, Bo and Atticus were there too.

"Thank you, see you later" Mumble said and walked away.

"Anytime!... but watch out the cliff!" The female shouted to Mumble, but he didn't pay attention to her warning. He thought it was a joke of some kind.

While he was making his way through the crowd of penguin, he noticed something in the sky. Several flying birds, from several species, were coming from the ocean and flying inside the continent. Skuas, gulls, albatrosses... all flying together without bothering each other's presence

"_This's really odd…"_ Mumble thought _"They never go much further inland that this... unless... something is frightening them... what could possible scare such a large number of birds?"_

He was so distracted staring at the sky and thinking in reasons for the birds' behavior, that he didn't noticed the cliff in front of him and he simply fall from it… but he didn't fall in the ground. He fell in something soft, warm… and fluffy.

"Huh!" He heard from below him.

"Sorry, I didn't…" He said as he opened his eyes… finding another pair of brownish eyes staring at his. A female was laying under him; her eyes widened and her beak opened. He was on top of her… her legs opened… he in the middle… a position quite… compromising "K-K-Katherine?" He muttered.

"M-M-Mumble?" She replied. Both of them were incapable of doing a single move. They were frozen and their eyes didn't want to stop staring at each other. But it was something strange… neither of them was feeling uncomfortable there. None blushed or felt shame. Although they didn't want to admit it, the warmth of their bodies making contact was a nice feeling. They were lost in the eyes of the other and they could have spent all day like that if wasn't for the giggles that they started to hear around them. They turned their heads slowly and realized that close to them there were about 20 or 30 chicks, all with covering their beaks with their flipper to not laugh or their eyes, thinking that they were witnessing something… not suitable for them. Some other adults were there too, whispering things to each other. Only then they realized where they were: in front of an entire class!

Katherine looked at Mumble again and literally threw him away as she stood up. He landed hardly on his back, but he dissimulated it and stood up quickly too.

"Kids… listen … it's not what you think… don't tell this to your teacher, please…" Katherine quickly pleaded, but one chick pointed to something behind her.

"I think it already late for that" She felt a chills going through her spine as she and Mumble slowly turned around. There was a cave on that little cliff, and stood in the entrance of that cave, an elderly female penguin was staring at the penguins with disgust.

"FOR GUIN SAKE! What the heck do you think you are doing!" The older female shouted angrily "How you dare to bring that… practice to my sanctuary of innocence!"

"MRS. STRAUSS! I-I-It's not what you think…" Katherine said, but was cut by this Mrs. Strauss

"I believe what I see, and I saw that! I want a reasonable explanation NOW! I thought I told you that you couldn't bring boyfriends here to my school! To my sacred place!"

"Mrs. Strauss, he is not my… boyfriend… and we weren't doing what you think…"

"Mrs. Strauss… sir, d-don't blame her… i-i-it was my fault… well actually not, it was an accident… I…" Mumble interceded.

"Did I ask you for your opinion?"

"No, but…"

"Then… SHUT UP!" The old penguin teacher shouted angrily, making Mumble fall on his back "Miss. Katherine, you and me will talk in private" She said and pointed her cave.

"Yes, Mrs. Strauss…" Katherine answered and walked inside the cave, lowering her head and sighing. Then, the elderly penguin faced Mumble

"And when I finish with her, I don't want to see your pretty face around here, Ok?"

"But my son…"

"I said: I DON WANT TO SEE YOU! OK?" Strauss shouted again, scaring Mumble pretty much.

"Y-y-yes, M-m-mr-rs…" He muttered in respond, not able to contradict to this character.

"Huh… young ones… they think they can do what they want to do wherever they want… in my times, we didn't even wink to each other until we do the ritual… and we walked outside the territory only to smile at each other because we felt ashamed of doing it in public… that things had been lost and nobody cares… I should talk to Noah, he would…" And giving this History's lesson, the old teacher walked inside the cave until her voice wasn't heard anymore.

Mumble stayed stood in his place, incapable of moving due the shock of been rebuked by this teacher, until a tiny voice commented something.

"Mommy… is the new teacher Katherine going to have a baby?" A random female chick nearby asked to her mother and she simply didn't know what to answer. Mumble, before embarrassing himself even more, just waddled away as fast as he could. He would return later to speak with Kath when everything calm down a bit.

But he was only about ten meters away when a familiar voice stopped him.

"Yo, Mumble…" He knew this voice pretty well…

"_Oh… shi…" _He thought, turning around. The fat emperor penguin that he expected to find… was there.

"Hi, Seymour!" He greeted to his 'friend' "How are you doing, bro?"

"Well… I can't complain… and I guess you neither…" Seymour replied as he approached to Mumble "So… plannin' a change for next season?" He asked, winking an eye.

"I-I don't know what you are talking about…"

"Of course ya do… so you know seek for younger ones…" Seymour was making Mumble feel quite uncomfortable. It was obvious that he wanted to achieve something.

"I think you are confusing me with someone else…" Mumble try one last time (in vain) to avoid the issue, but Seymour grinned and spoke again.

"Ya know… I thought you gotta wait until your chick has a year before askin' the 'Deux paires'… I guess you 'n Kath didn't know…'" Mumble was really surprised for two reasons. One, Seymour had witnessed his awkward scene with Katherine; and two, that he had that kind of information. It was something that not many penguins knew, even some of the members of the council wasn't aware of that kind of things.

Mumble had received some training and lessons from Noah, since he was supposed to be the next patriarch. One of these lessons was about ancients laws. One of these laws was the _Deux paires, _or 'double couple'. It was a very antiquated law, created in the early days of the nation. This law states that a couple of penguins can separate for a period of time of one year, as long as their chick (if they have one) is old enough to swim and feed himself (approximately, one year), and that both of them agree to separate. During this period of separation, they are free to do whatever they want, even pairing up with someone else. After this period, they have to spend a year with their original couple before asking for another one year's separation. There isn't a definitive divorce in the emperor penguin's society. The penguins have five years, since they come to the world until they graduate, to socialize with other penguins and know each other. Once they chose a mate, it is for life. The _Deux paires _was created when there were a lot more death in the colony, due to the large number of predators that lived in the waters nearby, so it was needed that many chicks were made every years, even if that involves 'sharing' your mate. In that time, it was pretty common to see a male with several females and having chicks with all of them; it was kind of accepted because everyone understood (or better said, everyone believed) that the colony needed it. When the predators migrate to open sea and the icy islands, it wasn't necessary anymore, so it became almost useless.

Nowadays, it is very bad seen asking a _Deux paires_, but technically, it's still allowed to ask for it. Why? Because the law was establish by all the members of the High Council, The High Elders. All of them agreed to make that law and all of them have to agree to abolish it… and it's pretty had to make an entire council agree in something without a solid reason. Infidelity, even the legal one, doesn't exist in the modern Emperor-Land's society… and even if it exists, it does under the shadows, so anyone never knew of someone who had done that. It's ironic… they use that law of sharing mates to prevent infidelity, but there isn't a law to punish infidelity if it happens, even when it was considered a crime. So, if hypothetically, one of the mates cheated on the other, and the last one denounced it, what could the council do? Well… there is the banishment, yes; but if the couple has a chick, and they banish one of the two, they would doom it to death. Why has the son to pay for the sins of his parents? It was question that Mumble and Noah had discussed for months, without reaching an answer. Mumble was totally against of the _Deux Paires_, but Noah, even being the patriarch, had to accept the council's decision… and the counsel said 'If that law doesn't hurt anyone, why should we change it? Nobody uses it, anyways'

Now, who was accused of using that law, was Mumble…

"Seymour, I'm not going to change Gloria. It would be a hot day in Emperor-Land before I do that" He was pretty upset. He could stand some jokes, but that accusation was something that he wasn't going to tolerate. The funny thing was that, like Mumble and Gloria never did the singing ritual, they weren't technically and legally married.

"Well, in that case I supposed that ya'r not gonna have problems if I tell Gloria about your… scene…" Suddenly, all the anger of Mumble turned to worry

"No, no, no! Don't tell her! I-I swear that I… that I wasn't"

"I dunno friend… if I do that, I'd be betraying a good friend like Gloria…" Mumble noticed something in the voice of his friend. He was up for something.

"Ok… what do you want?"

"I guess that if Erik was here, Atticus would be happy… and if he was happy, my beak would be closed" Mumble smiled to Seymour's request.

"Dang! I knew that… wait… that's all? I only have to bring my son to play with yours and… that's it?" Mumble asked puzzled. He was waiting something more challenging.

"Yeah, that' the plan. Do you…?"

"Ok, deal!"

"Really?" Seymour was surprised. He thought that convincing Mumble would be a lot more complicated that a simple threat.

"Yeah, sure. Deal" In that moment, two chicks, one a bit short and one rather fat walked to the two males.

"Hi, pa" Erik greeted to Mumble.

"Hi son, did you find your friend?" Mumble asked, smiling at Seymour, who was with a what-is-happening-here's face

"I found Atticus, but I don't know where Bo is"

"Well, you can keep looking for her if you want. I haven't spoke to Katherine yet"

"Pa… come close…" Erik asked. Mumble bowed his head and the chick approached his beak to his ear.

"I need to go…" Erik whispered

"To go? Where?" His father whispered in replied.

"You know… go…" Then, Mumble noticed that Erik had both flipper crossed and pressing against his underbelly. Erik wanted to go to the 'bath'. Penguin's bath it's a zone in the colony where they all go to satisfy their necessities… and it is very, very far away from the square. So taking Erik there would take time.

"Son… can't you wait?"

"But pa!"

"At least until we sing."

"Ok, pa" Erik said and walked away.

"Good job, dad" Atticus said, winking at his father and following Erik, without noticing his friend's condition. Seymour, who was in awe, didn't say anything.

"Well pal, my part of the deal is done. Now, if you excuse me, I have to speak with Kath"

"Yeah… sure… she… ok…" Seymour muttered, not really knowing what to say. If he had known about Erik being there, he would have asked for another thing! Now it was late… he would have to keep his promise. He just sighed in defeat and walked away too.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**With the chicks:**

Erik and Atticus were looking for Boadicea in different classes, but they weren't able to find her. Atticus had suggested that they just went to a class to chat with others chicks and that Boadicea would appear eventually. But Erik had insisted in looking for her, thing that Atticus had found curious. Why this little penguin was so interested in being with his cousin? What motive he could have? Then they arrived to Mrs. Strauss' class. It was nice place, with snow accumulated on the floor. Between the square floor level and the classroom's floor there was a vertical gap that created a small cliff. There was where Strauss lived, in a small cave in the cliff, which wasn't very big; it was barely the double of a normal penguin height. For the chicks, of course, was very high.

"Woao… it'd be ugly to fall from there" Atticus commented, pointing to the 2,50 meters cliff from where Mumble had fallen an hour ago.

"But… where is Bo?" Erik asked.

"I dunno, Erik… but I need to talk to my dad. Wait me here, ok?" Erik nodded and Atticus walked away, leaving the little blue eyed chick alone. It didn't take long until Erik became attracted all the attention. His blue eyes made him quite famous and everyone knew he was Mumble's son because of that. Some chicks watched him surreptitiously, some… not so much. A group of maybe five female chicks was whispering things to each other and giggling. He was receiving too much attention. He just wanted to run away… to the bath actually. He didn't know how to dissimulate that he wanted to go. And then…

"Erik!" A sweet familiar voice called him. He try to turn around to face the owner of that voice, but before he could do that he found himself being hit with something (better say, by someone) and laying on the floor "You were looking for me, but I found you!" Erik opened his eyes only to find another pair of ambary brown staring at his… Bo's eyes…

"Bo?"

"Yeah! Who else?" She said, getting off of him "I have my revenge for that accident when we met!" She said and giggled. Erik only smiled to her… he couldn't be mad with her. He stood up and as soon as he was on his feet, Bo wrapped her flippers around him "I'm so happy that you came! This party would be really boring without my friend"

"T-t-thank… you…" Erik shyly replied, blushing hardly. Bo giggled again and released Erik.

"So, what do you want to do? Want to play something?"

"I… I don't know… my pa want me to sing with him…" Bo's eyes widened as a huge smile appeared in her face.

"You are going to sing?" Erik hesitated a bit, but finally nodded "Awesome! I-I-I mean… awesome!"

"But… I don't know if I can…"

"Why… why do you say that? If you are like my ma told me your pa is, I'm sure you will be awesome!" It was strange that Bo used that word three times. She wasn't very easy to impress.

"Because I'm scared… what if the other laugh… of me?"

"Erik… I will be in the audience, watching you. If you feel nervous and you can't pronounce the right words... remember that and sing, not for your father... but for me" She said, winking at him. Erik blushed but smiled. He began to feel a nice warm feeling in his heart.

"Ok Bo… my song will be for you" He replied. Bo was now who blushed madly. In his innocence, Erik didn't know that dedicating a song with those words was almost like a marrying proposal… Bo, on the other hand, did.

"Come on!" A male voice echoed through the class.

"He? Sing to you?" Another male voice added.

"You gotta be kiddin'!" The first voice spoke again. Boadicea recognized both voices.

"We will show you what a real singer is!" The second voice concluded

Suddenly, two chicks gave some steps out of the crowd. Both of them were like a generation older that Bo, Atticus and Erik.

"Markus… Mathos…" She whispered.

"Who?"

"Two stupid guys who think I'm crazy for them. They like to be call "M & M" and they had tried to make me sing with them since the day I born! They surely have a new song and they want to try with me again"

One of the big males suddenly hit the other with the penguin version of the elbow and started to sing…

**Markus:** _Yes, I can see her__  
__'Cause every girl here wanna be her…_

**Mathos:** _Oh! She's a diva__  
__I feel the same and I wanna meet her_

The song attracted the attention of every penguin chick there, so soon they were surrounding Erik, Bo and the two singers.

******Markus:** _They say she low down_ (**Mathos:** _It's just a rumor, I don't believe them_)  
_They say she needs to slow down_ (**Mathos:** _The baddest thing around town_)

Boadicea was speechless! She didn't know how to react. She kind of liked the song, but the singers were other story. Erik, on the other hand, was feeling something that he had never felt in his short life. His blood was literally boiling due the rage he felt! He was… jealous? He was jealous and angry with those chicks? But why? They weren't doing anything wrong or stealing anything from him, so why he was feeling that way? He took a quick look at Boadicea's face. She had the face that girls have when they try to dissimulate that they like something. He read that from it pretty well and that made his anger increased.

**M & M:** _She ain't nothing a girl you've ever seen before _

_Nothing you can compare to a neighborhood whole__  
__I'm trying to find the words to describe this girl without__being disrespect…_

Both chicks finished their song abruptly when they noticed someone approaching.

"What the heck is happening here?" Atticus shouted, running out of the crowd and placing himself in front of Erik and Bo.

"This is not your business" Markus replied.

"Yeah! We were singing and if she stayed it's because she liked!" Mathos added.

"You two are jerks! You knew that?" Boadicea shouted from behind Atticus.

"Yeah, but you like jerks!" Mathos shouted in replied "That's why you listened to us"

"Yeah! When we start the kisses?" Markus added and both males laughed.

"Come on, Erik" Bo said, grabbing one of Erik's flippers "Let's get the heck out of here. They…" She just wanted to walk away, this wasn't funny anymore; but Erik had other plans. He roughly withdrew his flipper and began to walk toward Mathos and Marcus "Erik, where are you going!" Bo asked, but he didn't answer.

Erik was decided to do something. He passed Atticus, not listening his warnings, and faced those two bigger males.

"I want you to go and never come around here again!" He shouted. Everyone there gasped at his words.

"Excuse me?" Mathos asked.

"What did you say?" Markus said.

"You ask us to leave, fuzzball?" Mathos quickly added. Neither of them ever imagined what was going to happen.

Erik pressed a flipper against his crotch and raised the other. He remained in that position a few seconds and then he clapped his flippers.

"WOAO!" He shouted and pointed with both flippers at Mathos and Markus, who only looked at each other puzzled.

**Erik:** I told don't you ever come around here

I don't wanna see your face, you better disappear

The fire in my eyes and my words are pretty clear

So beat it… just beat it

Both chicks took a step back, the song was awesome! Erik was singing so well that many other males from the crowd had approached to him to be his back-up singers.

**E: **You better run, you better do what you can

Don't wanna see no blood? Well don't be a macho man

You wanna be tough? You better do what you can

So beat it… but you wanna be bad

Beat it! (Beat it!)  
Beat it! (Beat it!)  
No one wanna be defeated!

Showin' how funky and good is your dancer

It doesn't matter who's wrong or who's right

Just beat it!  
Just beat it!

Mathos and Markus were totally outnumbered! They couldn't face Erik, he was way better that them. They only accepted their defeat and walked away, losing in the crowd. Atticus noticed this and took his chance to make his contribution.

**Atticus: **YEAH!  
We're out to get you, better leave while you can  
Don't wanna be a chick, you wanna me a male?  
If you wanna stay alive, better do what you can  
So beat it… just beat it

Boadicea and Erik laughed. Atticus didn't sing badly, but he just sounded weird singing another thing that wasn't rap.

"Erik… YOU ARE AWESOME!" Bo shouted "And that position in the beginning… was just spectacular… and pretty bold too… I wasn't expecting something like that from you… I liked it" She finished giggling and smiling to Erik.

"T-t-thanks… B-Bo" Erik didn't want to do that 'position', but he was still struggling against his own body to keep his corporal liquids inside him… and he almost failed, but using his flipper, he bought some time "But the song didn't finish yet" He said, offering flipper top Bo.

"Erhm… Erik… could you give me… the other flipper?" Bo said. Erik realized that the flipper he was offering was the one which he had used to contain his needs, so he quickly withdrew it and offered the other. This time Bo accepted "Follow me!" She commanded and Erik obeyed. Both walked to the top of the cliff, like if it was a kind of stage. Everyone cheered at the couple.

"Would you like to help me finish this, Bo?" Erik asked.

"It would be a pleasure…" Boadicea replied, smiling.

**Erik: **_You have to show them that you're really not scared  
You're playin' with your life, this ain't no "Truth Or Dare"_  
**  
Boadicea: **_They'll kick you, then they leave you,  
then they'll tell you it's fait  
So beat it… but you wanna be bad_

**E: **_Beat it! (Beat it!)  
Beat it! (Beat it!)  
__No one wanna be defeated!_

**B: **_Showin' how funky and good is your dancer_

_It doesn't matter who's wrong or who's right_

_Just beat it!  
Just beat it!_

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

**Meanwhile…**

Mumble had some problems to find Katherine. She wasn't in the school or in her home, but Mumble had supposed that. He found her near the entrance of the territory. She was alone there, since everyone else was at the party. As he walked toward her, Mumble was thinking in how apologies with her and what to say after that. He had embarrassed her in front of her class in their first day as a teacher… and now he was going to ask her for a favor. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

"Hey… Katherine…" Mumble greeted when he was close to her. She turned her head a bit, just to see who was speaking.

"Hi Mumble, are you here to jump on me again?" She joked and giggled, returning her gaze to the front.

"No… I think I'm going to keep that for later" Mumble joked and giggled nervously too, as he placed himself at her side "Kath… did you and Strauss argued very much?"

"She fired me, Mumble…" She said as her face of happiness changed suddenly to one of sadness "She spoke with some parents and… and they decided that they couldn't have a girl who mated in front of her class as the teacher of their chicks"

"Oh… Kath I… I'm sorry… I…" Mumble knew that Katherine had wanted to be a teacher since she realized that that profession existed. It was her biggest dream. This was her opportunity to be that and Mumble had screw up everything. Penguin chicks' education it's a very important labor; if you are fired one time, it's very unlikely that you ever get another opportunity.

"Well…" She said, forcing a smile "I guess that now I'll have to start looking some handsome male for the next season… that's the only thing I can do now in benefit of the colony… seek for someone to make an egg…"

"Kath, the singing ritual is not an obligation. It's the opportunity to test your bond with your special one. You surely have a lot of close friends; maybe one of those friendships can be love"

"I don't have many friends… and I don't have any male friends of my generation… this work was my best opportunity to fit in our society and try to like people…" Unexpectedly, Katherine turned to Mumble and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his flipper around her body, knowing that it was what she needed in that moment "The closest friend I have it's you, Mumble… and sadly, you are already taken…" She whispered the last part, so Mumble didn't hear it.

"What are you going to do now?" Mumble asked. Kath broke the hug and directed her gaze to the colony.

"I'm going home… I just need to rest for a while"

"Are you mad with me… because I jumped on you?"

"Nah… it was like the song"

"The song? Which song?"

"You know… that one that it's like"

_You can knock me down,  
step on my face__  
__slander my name all over the place_

"Oh, yeah! I know it! And then it's like"

_Do anything that you wanna do, but uh! Uh!  
Honey, lay off of my foot._

They sang together the last verse.

_You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede foot._

Both laughed nervously when they finished their song. Suddenly, a third penguin shouted from the distant.

"Mumble! Come quickly! It's your son!" Mumble immediately began to worry. Something related to his son? Did something happen to him? Was him ok? Would he have done something to other chick? Why the heck he didn't go to see what happened instead of asking these stupid questions?

"Kath, I have to go… but I promise that I'll talk to you later, ok?" He said.

"I understand, Mumble… now go, your family needs you more than I" Mumble nodded and waddled away. A black tear fell from Katherine's eyes as she turned around and walked toward her home.

Mumble had to make his way through the crowd by pushing penguins, apologizing later, of course. He soon began to hear something familiar.

_Beat it! (Beat it!)  
Beat it! (Beat it!)  
No one wanna be defeated!_

That were the lyrics of the song he had taught to Erik… so who was singing… was Erik? He began to follow that voice, but soon another one joined.

_Showin' how funky and good is your dancer_

_It doesn't matter who's wrong or who's right_

_Just beat it!  
Just beat it!_

This was a female voice, possibly Boadicea. Mumble smiled… his son was singing with a girl at his short age. Finally, Mumble was able to reach where Erik was. He, indeed, was singing along with a female chick, but she didn't look like Bo…

"Son! You are AWESOME!" Mumble shouted, but Erik was too busy singing and he didn't hear him. Mumble then tried to approach to him, but when he was very close, he accidently stepped on half melted snow and he slipped. Everything turned out wrong… he fell and hit something fluffy with his head.

When he raised the head again, Erik had fell from the cliff and his head was stuck on the snow below. Feeling the cold of the snow in that way, Erik couldn't hold it anymore and his fluids spilled around him. The hell was unleashed.

Giggles, laughs, sniggers… all the chicks making fun of Erik.

The guilty?

Mumble…

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Well, I hope you liked this.**

**It's actually truth what I wrote about the _Deux Paires. _The emperor penguins sometimes change their mates from one year to another, and they use to come back to the original one the next season (Unless it had died during the winter or he/she doesn't want to XD). This was just my Kevplanation B) (Kevin + explanation) and yes, I speak a bit of French, but only a few words that my grandma taught me… and I know how to say them, but not how to write them XD**

**I have the half the chapter 6 already written, so I don't think I'm going to take a long time to publish… maybe a month or something like that.**

**Just kidding XD it'll only take me 29 days**

**Read you soon ;)**


	6. Not that simple

**Hello again!**

**Well, the humor will not be present in this chapter D:**

**It's time to start developing the real story.**

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Chapter 6: Not that simple**

"Son! You are AWESOME!" Mumble shouted, but Erik was too busy singing and he didn't hear him. Mumble then tried to approach to him, but when he was very close, he accidently stepped on half melted snow and he slipped. Everything turned out wrong… he fell and hit something fluffy with his head.

When he raised the head again, Erik had fell from the cliff and his head was stuck on the snow below. Feeling the cold of the snow in that way, Erik couldn't hold it anymore and his fluids spilled around him. Every chick there began to laugh wildly of him, while their parents began to chatter with each other. Some of them said things like 'Oh! Poor boy!' and someone shouted very ugly things to the little chick, like 'Look at that sucker!'. Erik was hearing everything and trying desperately to pull his head out of the snow, but he was stuck.

"IS NOT FUNNY!" Boadicea hurried in defending his friend, pushing a male chick close to Erik, pointing at him and making fun of him. The other chick quickly stood up and was about to punch Bo, but Atticus appeared from behind her.

"You'd better leave ma' friends alone" He said. That was enough to make that chick run away.

"Shut up everyone! Don't laugh!" Bo shouted to the crowd, but at the same time, she looked a bit… distant.

"Erik!" Gloria's voice echoed in the middle of crowd's laughs, giggles and sniggers. She had arrived only a few minutes ago, attracted by all the singing. She quickly run next to her son, pushing some penguins in the way. Mumble was frozen in the top of the little cliff, witnessing the whole scene that HE had caused "Hold on, son. Mommy is here" Gloria said as she helped Erik to finally stand up. The other chicks were still laughing of him and throwing joke after joke at him. When Mumble finally reacted, he jumped to the ground and approached to his family.

"Son… I'm sorry… I" Erik didn't wait until his father finished his phrase. As soon as he saw him approaching, his eyes widened in fear as he began to walk backward. He didn't distrusted of his father anymore… he was scared of him. No one can even imagine the pain that Mumble felt in his chest when he noticed Erik's reaction. He run away as fast as his tiny feet allowed to him "No, Erik! Please, wait! It wasn't my intention" Nothing that he could say would console the blue eyed chick. On his way, Erik spotted a little crack in which only a small penguin could ingress. Wasting no time, he jumped in it and curled up against one of its walls. Tears began to fall from his eyes as his world seemed to be breaking apart.

"Erik… honey, it wasn't so bad" Gloria tried to comfort her son .

"Champ… I… I'm sorry. Please come here… s-so we can talk"

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK WITH YOU!" Erik shouted in respond from inside the crack.

"Son, I…" Mumble spoke again, but Gloria stopped him, placing a flipper on his shoulder.

"Mumble…" Mumble directed his gaze to his mate "When you are in a deep hole… you have to stop digging"

"I-I know… b-b-but I can't leave him in a hole!"

"We will talk to him, Mr. Mumble" Boadicea, who had followed Erik to the border of the crack, said as she jumped inside.

"Yeah, don't worry" Atticus said, following his cousin inside the crack.

Mumble was feeling so helpless. He knew that every word he could say would only worsen the situation. Instead, he remained silent, hoping that Atticus and Bo could calm Erik. But when they had spent only five minutes in that hole, he began to get impatient

"Erik... son, I... I'm sorry... it was an accident! I didn't"

"GO AWAY! I... DON'T WANT... TO TALK... WITH YOU!" Erik shouted sobbing. From outside, Mumble could hear his tears splashing in the puddle recently formed by them. Not knowing what to do, he turned to Gloria, seeking an idea.

"Gloria… help me, please!… w-w-what should I do!"

"Mumble… I… I think you should leave him alone for a while. Let the little ones solve this by themselves" She replied, with an air of confidence in her voice. She was his mother, so she was the best to know what to do with him. Still, Mumble wasn't very sure.

"But, Gloria… I… it wasn't my… I can't…" Mumble was very nervous. His thought and words mixed in his mind, preventing him to think clearly.

"Mumble…" Gloria grabbed Mumble's head and made him stare at her eyes "Easy, honey…" Gloria's eyes had the same effect in him than his in Gloria. He felt so peaceful when to looked at those lovely brown eyes "Like you said: let him be. He has Bo and Atticus… and I think that some minutes alone with them will help him"

"Yeah… yeah, you are right." Gloria's confidence had kind of convinced Mumble. He still wasn't completely sure; but if she believed that it was the best, he would do it.

"Now let's go home, honey. You need some time alone, too"

"Yeah… I guess so" Mumble forced a smile. It wasn't very much, but it was a improvement.

"Don't worry, dears. I will look after your son" Miss Viola, who had arrived at that spot of the square some minutes ago, offered. The young couple smiled to their old teacher and slowly made their way out of the square, to their home.

While they were walking, a certainly small penguin appeared. He seemed pretty hurry, like if he was escaping from something. He turned his head to look behind him and when he did so, he bumped into the couple. Since the emperor penguins are two times taller and heavier that adelies, Ramon bounced against them and fell on the floor. He was about to shout angrily, but he then realized with who he had bounced

"Hi Love-birds! Nice to see you but I'm in a hurry, so I can't talk right now" He greeted, standing up and continuing his way, but walking this time.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Gloria asked. She didn't like Ramon very much, but he was Mumble's friend. Mumble, on the other hand, was too immersed in his own problems to worry about Ramon.

"Let's say that the empress I tried to get already got an emperor… and he didn't like that I said piropos to her. Now, I have to run to Adelie-Land before he found Ramon. See ya, amigos!" Ramon said waving a flipper, before running away to the exit of the territory, passing near where Erik and the others were.

Gloria looked at Mumble, noticing that he was staring to a random piece of ice in the ground. She hugged him with one of her flippers and walked along him to their cave. In matter of minutes, they were there. Without the tiny voice of their son, the cave looked so… empty. Mumble walked to one of the walls and smashed his head against it.

"Mumble, don't do that! You are going to hurt yourself!" Gloria told to him, really scared by this sudden and strange action.

"I don't care…" He replied "Everything seemed too easy… I should have knew that it couldn't be truth"

"Don't be so hard with you, honey. I'm the one who always overreact, but this time it's you"

"Erik hates me Gloria… my own son hates me! You don't know how that feels"

"No, I don't. But I want to try to help you… you weren't the only guilty" Mumble shook his head.

"You tried to stop me… and I ignore you. I deserve to be blame"

"Yeah, I tried to stop you, but you were so focused in that 'son and dad singing' that you didn't listen! Why was that so important! Maybe with other song…" Mumble was very angry at this. He had already had enough criticism about the decision to sing.

"The song had nothing to do with what happened! It was a great song and… why would I explain you? What you could possibly know about singing? You don't have a single word in your heart!" He finished shouting. Gloria's eyes widened in shock and her face was a shocked one to. But not because she was angry or scare… her face was a sad one. Her eyes began to get wet as she dropped her gaze. When he noticed Gloria's reaction, Mumble regretted every word he had said "Gloria, I… I'm sorry… I" He tried to apologies, but Gloria interrupted him.

"Maybe I can't sing, but I can interpret songs... and also create them. I do have words in my heart, Mumble... but I just can't express them" This revelation was really shocking for him. Gloria had never said that she actually had songs in her "I'm a normal penguin trapped in the body of… of a… of a 'Gloria', I guess" She concluded, kicking some random snow and dropping her head again.

Mumble always thought that Gloria had overcome those things. He never imagined that after all these years, she still was trying to sing... and that she actually had created songs, but then again, she couldn't perform them. Unknown for Mumble, Gloria always felt an inner pain due to her lack of voice, but this pain was eased by Mumble's love. Now that Mumble seemed not to give her much attention, she was starting to feel that pain again.

"Gloria… I… I didn't know…" He couldn't think in anything better "Why… why didn't you tell me that before? Maybe I could help you, like I did with Kath"

"When, Mumble? When we were chicks, you were too busy to help me… helping Kath, parting and also studying. After that, when we graduated, all kind of weird stuff happened: that leopard seal, the caves, the Amigos, Adelie-Land, the Aliens and your kidnapping. Then, when you returned, it was all so… so quickly. We never stopped to think what we were doing" Gloria explained, while Mumble listened, unable to say something, because he knew that everything that Gloria had said was true.

"I…"

"With this issue about you and Erik, I spent a whole night alone… and I… thought about a lot of things… do you realize that we never actually dated, Mumble? I know that according to the traditions we come to the world already bonded with someone; but usually, the couples… you know… spend a lot of time together to form that bond, even before the singing ritual. We… we never had the opportunity to form that bonds"

"But… we have a bond. We are mates" Gloria sighed and shook gently her head.

"Mating is a powerful and beautiful way to show someone that you love him or her, but it's only a physical bond. What I meant was something more... spiritual. A true bond of love. The kind of bond that two penguins have since chicks, that they strengthen through the years, that they confirm by singing and that they consummate by mating. We… we didn't have that bond, Mumble. We were friends one day, the next day we were fighting and then we became mates… it was everything so confusing. Don't get me wrong, I loved what happened between us and I would do it again if I have the change to chose, but… I don't know…"

"It's my fault, Gloria. If only I had told you how I felt around you, we…"

"No, honey. Even if you had confessed to me that, everything was going to be the same. We do have a kind of bond; we were great friends too… more than friends… but we never tested that bond to see if it was love… because… I can't"

"You… you are right, Gloria… maybe this fatherhood thing was a mistake" Mumble unexpectedly said, shocking Gloria very much. Was Mumble regretting of the only thing that kept them united as a couple?

"Are you… are you saying that Erik… was a mistake? That our love was a mistake?" She asked, fearing the answer.

"No… he's not a mistake" Mumble answered, making Gloria wanted to ask another one. But it wasn't necessary because Mumble quickly added something that answered that question too "I'm the mistake… I'm not ready to be a father… I'm a shame to my family and I have failed to everything I love… The nation may believe that I'm the best and a hero but… I don't deserve to have a mate… I don't deserve to have a son…"

"No, Mumble. You are the best father that Erik could ever have. I think that you are just nervous"

"Gloria, I'm a terrible father. I acted like a jerk in front of him and his friends and I made him cry. Then, due to some miracle, I had another chance with him... and when he was forgiving me, I hurt him again! I promised to him that nobody was going to laugh of him, and because of me, all the colony laughed of him! Now… I don't know if he will want to see me again… if I was him, I wouldn't"

"Honey… I… I…" Gloria sighed. Mumble's words were completely true. Gloria wouldn't forgive Mumble if she was Erik. But sometimes, the lie it's better that the truth "Erik is young, Mumble. I'm sure he will forgive you again… I just think that you have to give him some time, like the first time"

"But this time is different, Gloria. The first time, he knew that I did that unintentional… what excuse can I say now? I can't say I slipped, he wouldn't believe me! I was the one who asked him to sing! I was the one who took him to the square! And I was the one who caused all of this… if only I would have stayed with him, I could have told him to not climbing up there and anything would happened…"

"If only you would have stayed with him?" Gloria asked puzzled "What do you mean? Weren't you with him like you promised" Mumble realized late that he hadn't explained to Gloria the whole Katherine's episode.

"Well… no I… I…"

"You weren't with him! But you promised it! Where were you? What could be more important that our son?" Mumble couldn't think in a better way to say it, so he just did.

"I was talking with Kath…"

"You… were talking… with that chick!" Gloria shouted angrily. Mumble gulped before answering, knowing that Gloria would be more than just upset.

"Yes… I know I shouldn't have done that, but…"

"You shouldn't? Of course you shouldn't!"

"I know, I know… but she needed me"

"She needed you? You had to be with your son! Not with that girl! He is your family! I'm your family! We are more important than that Katherine! Why the heck did she need you?"

"Because she was fired, Gloria… she was practicing to be a teacher and she was fired" All Gloria's anger suddenly turned into pity. Katherine, even when she seemed to be attracting Mumble's attention, was still her friend. All her life, Kath had wanted to be a teacher… and Gloria knew pretty well how it felt when your dreams were broken into pieces.

"Oh, Guin… that's terrible… but I still don't understand why you had to be with her"

"Because she was fired because me… I was the reason because she lost her opportunity to become a teacher. I know that I shouldn't have left Erik alone but I felt in my heart that I had to apologies… I understand if you are mad"

"I'm not mad with you… because I know I would have done the same" She then got close and pulled him into a hug "You are a good father, a great friend and a loving mate, Mumble" She said as she snuggled into his neck. Mumble smiled at the compliments and accepted the kiss. "Everything is going to be alright… I love you… and Erik does too…" His heart was still hurting, but Gloria made him believe those words.

"Why you are always so positive?" He asked giggling.

"After all I have been through, I learnt that you have to be like that if you want to be really happy and achieve your objectives… you were mine" She winked at him, causing that Mumble blushed a bit "Besides, if I wasn't, who would cheer you up? It's like a kind of job to me"

"Yeah… I guess you are right. Lately, I need of your services a lot" Gloria giggled at Mumble's joke and came up with an idea.

"But… I have my price… and I'm very expensive" She said playfully.

"Really? Well, how can I pay you?"

"A kiss would be a good start…" Only then Mumble realized what Gloria was up to (He isn't the fastest penguin, is he?) He leaned his head and she raised her. Their open beaks met in the halfway. This rare practice of kissing with their beaks instead of the traditional neck-kiss was something that Mumble found very nice and pleasant. Gloria had discovered this way of showing affection and nobody knew that they did that thing (Apart from Gloria's mother, who saw them).

"Maybe we can… start with that of dating now… better late than never" Mumble said, separating his beak for a few second to breath, before connecting them again. Gloria affirmed by moaning softly. Both of them had their eyes closed, they didn't need to see each other to share their feelings.

With the renewed hope of recovering his son and the love of his loyal mate, Mumble felt that this moment couldn't be more perfect… but the destiny have the cruel habit of make you believe that everything is fine… just to show you that you are wrong.

"MUMBLE!" A scream cut the romantic moment. Mumble and Gloria separated and saw how a very exhausted penguin came into the cave. It was obvious that that penguin had run a long distance to be there "Mr.… Mumble… Mrs. Gloria… I've got… news for you…" The penguin managed to say.

"What happen?" Mumble quickly asked. The expression on the face of this messenger told him that this news weren't good at all.

"It's your son… he… Viola's and Seymour's ones… disappeared!"

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Half an hour earlier, right after Ramon's departure:**

Mumble and the others parents dispersed, thinking that It would be better that the chicks solve this by themselves.

Erik was on his 'knees', crying inconsolable. He couldn't believe that he had just made ridiculous in front of Atticus, Bo, his mother and the whole penguin colony! And it was his father's fault! He was the one who encouraged him to sing! He was the one who had cause him suffer! And not only once, but twice! How his own father could do that to him? He felt stupid for having forgiven him at the first time. Sure, they had had some fun in the past, but that didn't make up for this.

Atticus and Bo were there too. They just couldn't leave his friend went through this alone. Atticus was staring at the crying Erik, feeling completely helpless. What could he do? He wasn't that kind of penguin who is good at giving tips and cheering the people up.

Boadicea was holding Erik in her flippers, trying to console him, but it was useless. She was felling a sharp pain in her chest, like if each tear was one leopard seal's bite in her heart.

"Please, bro. stop crying… it's not gonna take you anywhere" Atticus told to the little male penguin. He couldn't take any more. If he continued to see Erik crying, his armor of 'tough guy' would break apart as a snowflake in water and he would start crying too.

"Atticus is right, Erik. You have to be strong… for you, for your family… for us" Erik stopped crying, but didn't calm at all.

"I'm little…" He said.

"There is nothing bad in being different, Erik. Look at me! I'm exaggeratedly big! And a bit fat too, but I don't care"

"I'm weird…" He said, sobbing.

"No, no, no. Erik, you are not that!" Atticus quickly replied.

"Yes, I am… everyone laughed of me!"

"I didn't…" Erik directed his gaze at Bo, with watery yet hopeful and happy eyes "I didn't and I never will, Erik, because I…" She wasn't able to finish because Erik, needing someone to understand him, felt so happy that he instinctively snuggled into her neck. Bo was completely taken by surprise. She didn't expect that from Erik… even in that state. At first she moved her head back in shock, but soon she accepted and placed her head over his. After all, they had already kissed once in the past, so why she would be shy about it? And actually, this wasn't technically a kiss at all.

"Yeah, and I'm sure that those suckers who laughed of you are all a big bunch of loser. I bet that no one can do a double back flip, finish with a head stand and pee in that position. Of course they can't do that! It's…"

"Atticus…" Boadicea cut his cousin's statement "Shut… YOUR STUPID BEAK UP!" She shouted. Erik started to cry again right after Atticus's words. Although the rapping penguin had good intentions, he only managed to make Erik feel worst.

He was watering all the Boadicea's fluffy plumage, but she didn't care. The idea of letting him go never crossed her mind; instead, she squeezed him even more. She would be capable of holding him during the whole life if it was needed.

"What my gross cousin wanted to say is that... you are special, Erik, in a good way" Boadicea comforted "Pay no attention to what others say"

"Yeah! That! That what I wanted to say!" Atticus quickly said "And also, that you are not gonna make regret for this by crying, my friend" Erik stopped sobbing and directed his gaze to his friend "You gotta prove they're wrong! By doing something that they wouldn't expect you to do"

"Hey that's… that's not a bad idea. But what can he do, Atticus?" Bo asked.

"Well, I dunno. How about… no, that's not gonna work, but how about… nope, that's not gonna work too" Atticus remained in silence, thinking in which heroic act Erik could do.

But Erik had already a plan. He had noticed Ramon when he was leaving the territory. This adelie was going to Adelie-Land… and he was going too. He broke the hug with Bo, stood up and wiped away the few tears that he still had.

"I know what I'm going to do" He said.

"Oh, really? What?" Atticus asked.

"Are you better now?" Bo asked, but she didn't get an answer "Erik?"

Without paying attention to his two friends, he pocked his head out of the crack, checked that there wasn't any adult penguin in sigh and jumped out of it. Then, he started waddling quickly toward the exit of the territory.

"Erik… Where are you going?" Asked a very worried Bo, trying to stop her friend.

"Where do you think?" He replied coldly. Driven by sadness, he only wanted to run away, to be far from those who had laughed of him; but particularly, he wanted to be very far away from his father, who Erik believed that was the main causative of his accident… and that strange Adelie penguin was his best chance of doing it. That land called Adelie-Land it was known to be a great place to live. He had heard about it from his mother, since she and his father had been there in the past.

"It's a bad idea, bro. I wouldn't do that if I was you" Atticus opined. He had already guessed what Erik was up to.

"I don't want to stay a second more in this place… I'm running away to Adelie-Land and I'm not asking you to follow me…"

"Man, you know what? You can…" Atticus was a bit upset with Erik's sudden behavior.

"But we will!" Boadicea interceded.

"W-W-WHAT!" Atticus asked "Why?"

"Because… he is our friend, and… we can't leave him go alone" She answered, as she walked to Erik and putted a flipper in his shoulder "We'll go with you" She whispered.

"Ehm… ok…" Erik replied, blushing.

"Ok…" Atticus sighed defeated. He didn't want to even try to argue with his cousin. It was useless... she always won. Still, he started to suspect that she was hiding something from him. He would have to find out the truth later, for now, they had an escape to do "But if gonna escape, we gotta do it right now!" Erik nodded and continued his way out of the colony, with Boadicea and Atticus following him closely.

Follow Ramon isn't a hard task at all. The footprints made by his feet were easily distinguishable on the snowy ice surface... not to mention the hundreds of times that he tripped and left holes in the snow even easier to follow. Erik remained in silence during the walking, glad that Bo and Atticus had come with him, because (even when running away was his idea) he wasn't brave enough to do it alone. The fact of having abandoned his family was killing him, but he didn't belong to there. He needed to find his place.

They walked for hours, but their little feet weren't able to keep the pace of Ramon. The night fall and they were forced to find a safe place to spend it. Guin was in good mood that day, because they soon found a little cave which had enough space for them. Erik was totally exhausted, so he got into the cave, rested his head in his shoulder and fell asleep in standing position, as usual for a penguin. When he closed his eyes and felt the cold night wind, he realized how he missed his mother's feathers right now, and especially, her warm and comfortable brood pouch.

Boadicea wasn't tired. She had a very gymnastic body for an emperor penguin's chick. She used to practice what she like to call 'freerunning' back in Emperor-Land; but this kind of gift wasn't something she learnt, she born with it. Her father had been a freerunnner too when he was young, but his parents obliged him to quit that practice and focus in singing... her pa always hold a grudge for that, so he decided that he wasn't going to do that with her daughter. If she was a freerunner, she would freerun all she wanted to.

Atticus noticed that Erik went to sleep but Boadicea didn't… and took his chance. Now was the time to get some answers. Doing his best effort to hide his truly intentions, he asked Boadicea to go with him for a walk because he wasn't sleepy and he didn't want to go alone. Boadicea thought that Atticus was missing his family (Because she missed hers too) and he needed some family love, so she accepted. She liked to walk, anyways.

They walked away together, talking about random topics, nothing really important. Atticus talked about his favorite type of fish, for example. Soon, a little ice formation came in sight and Atticus decided that it had been enough walking.

"Hey! Let's check what that is!" Atticus said. Boadicea was always ready for an adventure, no matter how little that adventure could be, so she accepted.

"Well… this is only a pile of ice, Atticus. Nothing interesting…" She commented when they arrived there.

"Hmm… from the distance this seemed cool…"

"Yeah… well… let's head back to our shelter. I want to see if Erik is alright"

"Thank for remind me that, Bo. Let's talk about something"

"Huh?" Before she could react, Atticus pushed her against the icy wall and hold her pressed against it with both flippers "Atticus… what are you doing!"

"Okay, that's it! Now, tell me why are we doing this?" Atticus asked upset.

"What do you mean?" She asked, scared of Atticus suddenly aggressive treat.

"Why we have to come with this… mini-penguin?"

"I-I-I already told you! H-he is our friend and we can't…" Boadicea tried to answer, but Atticus didn't believe anything.

"Friend, my tail feathers! We've escaped from our nation! We are... how it was that weird word that your father uses? We are... oh, yeah! Disertors!"

"We are not DESERTERS, Atticus! We are helping a friend"

"We'd plenty of friends back in the colony, so why we had to leave 'em all for this particular one? Erik is a good guy and my friend too… but I know you've been hidin' something, and I wanna know what!" He demanded.

"Atticus, I… I don't know what you are talking about" She tried to dodge the question, but Atticus was determined to know the truth.

"Of course ya' know! Answer me, Boadicea" Bo felt defeated. Her cousin wasn't going to give up, so there was no point in hiding it anymore.

"Well… I… I… feel something…"

"You feel something? For Erik?" Atticus said, completely shocked, releasing Boadicea from his grip.

"NO!... I mean… not what you think…"

"THEN WHAT!"

"It's not that simple… I… I…" She tried to explain his cousin her actions, but she couldn't find the words… well, actually she knew them very well, but she couldn't pronounce them "Come close…" She commanded and Atticus obeyed. He leaned his head and Bo approached her beak to his ear and whispered something inaudible.

"OH… MY… GUIN!" Atticus shouted, as soon as he heard Bo's words. If he hadn't had feathers, his face would be white in this moment "You… you… you…?"

"Yes…" She replied, as she dropped her gaze to the floor and wrapped her body with her own flippers.

"Boadicea you… you… you have to tell him! He needs to know!"

"I can't!… not after what happened… it's too sudden"

"But… you can't hide that kind of stuff! Sooner or later, he will find out"

"Atticus, I swear that I'll tell him, but not now. It'll have to wait until… until…" She didn't know how to finish her own phrase. When it'd be a good time to confess her secret? It was impossible to know. Realizing that Bo didn't have an answer, Atticus sighed and gave her a look of understanding.

"Look, cousin, you're a strange penguin… well, all girls are strange… but, if that's what you feel it's ok, I'm with ya" He spoke with a softly and reassuringly voice, taking Boadicea by surprise. Her cousin was a penguin who didn't like secrets. What he respected the most in a penguin was sincerity, and keeping secrets was something that he never agreed to do "And don't worry, my beak is a grave"

"Thanks you" She said, hugging Atticus.

"You're welcome… Now, please, let get's some sleep. This day was very stressing" Bo nodded and both chicks walked back to where Erik was sleeping. In the way, they remained in silence and tried not to cross their gazes.

When they got to their little cave, Erik was awake waiting for them. He had woke up, and when he couldn't find them, he scared so much that he wasn't able to fall asleep

As soon as he noticed Atticus and Boadicea walking inside the cave, he smiled to then. They smiled back. Boadicea because she was happy to see Erik smiling again; Atticus had to force himself to smile. Without saying a word, the chicks approached as much as possible to keep them warm during the night and fell asleep.

"_I don't like this… when she makes up her mind… it'd be too late… Erik is innocent, but not stupid…" _Atticus thought.

He took one last look at the sky. A storm seemed to be approaching.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - )**

Many kilometers behind, an adult emperor penguin took shelter in a small formation of ice. Mumble had followed the trail left by the chicks. Unfortunately, as soon as night fell, an intense snow storm was unleashed, making it impossible to walk. Gloria had stayed in Emperor-Land, she was very shocked by the fact that her only child had run away.

Mumble took a look at the moon. He hardly could see it through the white and cold breeze. Its pure light illuminated the frozen valleys and mountains, as well as Mumble heart. The only thing the wished was that the Great Guin had mercy of his little boy. That he helped him to bring him back to their home. That he give him the strength to overcome all the bad events that caused this situation.

His body was trembling uncontrollably due to the cold wind that ran through his feathers and chilled his skin. A lonely penguin is a dead one… he knew that when he left. They depend on numbers to survive, one alone can't face a blizzard on his own, he needs his fellows with him.

His eyelids were heavy and his mind wasn't working normally. He was sleepy... very sleepy. He was forcing his eyes to keep them open. However, in matter of minutes, they were closed… but he was still conscious.

He was about to fall asleep, when suddenly two flippers wrapped around him, transferring some of the warmth of the other body to his. He opened lazily his eyes, only to see a female penguin next to him.

"Good night, Mumble…" She whispered.

Then darkness…

He fell asleep…

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Well, this was chapter 6. I hope you liked it**

**I was a bit down because chapter 5 didn't get so many reviews as I expected :( but I overcome it XD you can't win all the time, right?**

**What Mumble will do now? How Gloria would react? What is going to happen with Kath? What is Boadicea hiding? When she will confess it? I will stop ruining romantic moments? Why the heck did I write these questions?**

**You will have to keep reading if you want to know ;)**

**Read you soon.**


	7. NuevaAdelie

**Sorry for taking so long in updating this, but I had an enormous amount of problems XD**

**I really hope you like this ;)**

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Chapter 7: Nueva-Adelie**

The watcher of Emperor-Land was struggling to keep his eyes open. He had been looking at the horizon for all the night, not really understanding why he had to. Females were there and they weren't expecting any congregation of penguins anytime soon. An emissary of the council appeared in his house and told him that the Council needed him to be the guard that night and probably the next one. But they didn't told him that the reason why he had to be on duty was that three chick had run away from the territory and an adult had gone after them. He was supposed to make Noah aware when they returned.

The night was coming to its end, but the moon seemed to not want to go. He was very tired, but he wouldn't leave his post. His duty was to obey the orders of the council. Besides, in only one hour more the sun would raise and he could go home, kiss his mate and sleep a bit. He really needed the last one. He had spent the whole winter with his egg, then he had to watcher for three days until the females returned, then the party and now this. With his duties as a guard of the Council and his duties as a father, this particular winter had been pretty hard.

Duties as a father? No… the blessing of being a father. He remembered to his little chick. The fluffy feathered boy should been sleeping at that time, resting between his mate's legs. His mate… the sweet female whose song had simply melted his heart. She would be waiting for him, probably still awake. She was very worried about her husband been the guard that particular night. She had a very bad feeling about it, but he didn't pay attention. She used to worry about him all the time. Sometimes that was cute, sometime was annoying; but he got used to it. After all, he was going to spend the life with her, so he didn't really have another choice.

He was staring at the frozen plains (Even when he didn't know it, this was a wise decision since the chicks couldn't swim, so the only way to return was by walking), but for some reason he decided to turn his gaze to the sea. There was a thick fog covering the water surface and all the space above it. This fog became denser as it approached to the horizon. Actually, he wasn't able to see very far… and judging by the wind's direction, that fog would soon cover Emperor-Land. But it was just that, a fog!

Nothing to be scared… nothing to see… nothing to inform. Just another boring night watching the infinite white plains of Antarctica.

His eyes were heavier than before. He was way too old for being a guard. He had nine years (An emperor penguin usually lives fifteen years) and a new-born chick to take care of, so it was very likely that this was going to be his last mission. Actually, he had already decided it! He would retire after this mission and spent all the time he had left with his family.

His eyes winked once… twice… and the third time they did, they didn't open. A soft snore was released from his beak. A short nap wouldn't hurt anyone, would it? After all, there wasn't anything interesting or dangerous at sight. In his dreams, he visualized his life with his chick. He saw himself walking along his son and leaving him at his first day at school, then the image changed and he saw how his fully grown son waved his flipper as he was leaving the territory with all his schoolmates in their first trip to the ocean, the day of his graduation. A very big smile appeared on his beak when his mind showed his images of his son dancing and singing with a female in what it seemed to be the singing ritual.

"That's… my… son…" The penguin whispered in his dreams. But all this peace was about to end. The tall pillar from where he guarded the territory was suddenly shaken. He lost his balance and fell on his belly, this of course woke him up instantaneously. He grab to the pillar with flippers and feet, doing his best to not fall. The piece of ice where he was laying was about thirty meters, so it was almost certainly that he wouldn't survive if he fell.

The earth (better said, the ice) kept shaking under him violently and it didn't seem to ever stop. Doing a great effort, he managed to stand up. He opened his eyes and directed them to the sea. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing. A huge mass of massif ice was coming in straight line to Emperor-Land. The ice had a greenish tone, just like his wife told him that the ice in the other part of the Antarctica was. The block of ice was bigger than the territory itself! To make things even worse, the winds and the sea's tides gave to this monstrous iceberg an incredible speed. The continental ice couldn't even slow it down. The iceberg simply destroyed everything it touched, without even scratching.

The guard realized then that this iceberg was going to crash in Emperor-Land. It was very late to do anything. He also realized with horror that his watch-pillar was just in the middle of the iceberg's way. He was simply in a hopeless situation. He couldn't jump and he didn't have time to descend, so… his fate was sealed.

He took a quick look back, at the entrance of the territory. He only hoped that those two giant ice formations that were at the beginning of the inhabited area, just a hundred meters behind him would be enough to stop this iceberg.

He took a very, very deep breath. Then he sighted but smiling. He opened his flippers, like if he was embracing his destiny. Images of his chick, of his mate… of everything he dreamed came to his mind. A tear fell from his eyes, but his smile grew as he started gigging a bit. Anyone who could see him would think that he was insane… and in that moment, he kind of was.

Then the iceberg crashed on his pillar.

He was right in one thing… this would be his last mission.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

BBBBBBRRRRRRUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!

Mumble was pulled out of his dreams violently by a thunderous sound that echoed through the frozen Antarctic's plains. Gloria, who had secretly followed him, had been awake for a while and now was hugging him tightly, completely terrified.

"M-Mumble… w-what was that?"

"I-I-I don't know… I… wait… Gloria? What are you doing here!

"What I'm doing here?" She asked, a bit offended "I'm going after my chick, that's what I'm doing!"

"No, no, no… it's too dangerous. I want you to return and…"

"Dangerous? Did you forget, Mumble, that I walked all the way back from Adelie-Land to Emperor-Land… alone? And also that I had to swim across leopard seal's territory to return home?"

"But this is different! We don't know if the chicks went to Adelie-Land!"

"Mumble I'm sure that they are going to be there. They probably followed Ramon. Don't worry about me, I will be fine, but…" She said as she turned to the direction of Emperor-Land "I'm still worried about that sound"

"It was… very close to Emperor-Land… I just don't know what it was"

"It sounded like an explosion… or maybe an iceberg collapsing… I just hope that everyone is ok"

"Yeah, me too…" Mumble took a quick look at the sky. The sun was just rising, so it was pretty early. If they resumed their walk now, they could catch up with the chicks before noon and return to Emperor-Land before sunset "Come on, honey. We have to keep moving" He told to his mate. Gloria nodded and both of them started walking toward Adelie-Land. The footprints that they were following the day before had banished due the wind, but fortunately, Gloria remembered pretty well how to get to Adelie-Land. Mumble was a bit more confident right now. If Erik and his friends were there, he knew that the amigos were going to look after them until he arrived, so they will be safe.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Meanwhile, several kilometers ahead:**

The same weird noise had woken Erik, Bo and Atticus up, but they didn't think about it very much. There wasn't time for that, they had to keep walking if they wanted to reach Adelie-Land before someone find out that they had escaped.

They only walked about a hundred meters when they found something. A small crack on the ice, similar to the one where Erik had hid after his accident. But what was interesting about his was that there were footprints that went from the crack and continued to the horizon.

"These things are from who I think they are?" Atticus asked. Boadicea bowed her neck and examined the footprints carefully. She studied its form, length and profundity… and then she shared her result.

"Well, apparently the owner of the feet which made these footprints is surely shorter than an Emperor penguin, so I deduce it's an Adelie. The shape, although being a bit deteriorated, it almost the same that the ones we followed yesterday. The profundity of this tells me that the penguin has twelve kilos, approximately. And…"

"In Penguinish, please!" Atticus interrupted Boadicea's explanation.

"These are Ramon's footprints. They are the same we followed yesterday" Atticus looked back, then to the crack, then back again and then he took a last look of the crack before speaking.

"He was just in front of our eyes and we didn't see him! We could have saved a lot of time if we just walk a couple of meters more!" Atticus complained, raising his voice a bit "He could be in Adeliehood right now!"

"Stop complaining, fuzzball. We didn't know he was here" Bo told to him.

"Do you realize that you're a fuzzball too?"

"Yeah, but unlike you, I'm proud of being one" Atticus was about to respond something, but he decided better not. He was going to lose the discussion anyways, so he'd better not waste saliva "Ok, come on everyone. We have to keep moving. Adelie-Land shouldn't be so far" Bo declared and the three chicks resumed their trip, having again footprints to follow.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

"They were here…" Gloria said. She and Mumble had arrived to where the chicks had spent the night. As soon as they arrived there, Gloria spotted a fluffy feather on the ice and, after studying it for several seconds, she reached that conclusion.

"Are you sure that feather is one of his?" Mumble didn't want to be mean, but he wasn't very sure about trusting in Gloria's tracking skills… he didn't know if she had tracking skills, actually.

"I gave birth to this chick, Mumble. I know how my child's feathers are"

"But… I watched him hatch. It almost the same"

"No, it is not. This feather is from him; don't ask me how I know, I just know it. When you become a mother, you will understand"

"When I become a mother? What do you mean? I'm one already" Mumble replied quite confidence, but skipping a little detail. Gloria looked away and giggled "I said something funny?" Mumble asked, only causing that Gloria laugh even more "Gloria, what happens? I only said that I'm a moth… wait a second!…"Only then Mumble realized that he was being teased.

"Oh, you are? I didn't know it!" Gloria said as she laughed softly. "Who is the father then? Because I'm sure I'm not" She said, faking a masculine voice at the last phrase.

"Very funny, Gloria… very funny…"

"Oh, come on! It was just a little joke! Please, don't be angry with me, my… my… big brave girl!" She said, laughing loudly this time.

"Are you enjoying this, don't you?" Mumble replied, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, yeah! Now I see why you enjoy making these jokes"

"Yeah, yeah… whatever… we have to continue walking. We have to find Erik and his friends before nightfall" Mumble then noticed four sets of footprints in the snow a few meters ahead. He walked to them, with Gloria following him closely, still giggling a bit "And I think where they go, follow me Gloria"

"Mumble, wait…" She replied, looking carefully at those footprints and their directions. Her funny mood had disappeared, she seemed pretty worried now.

"What happens? Another silly joke of yours?"

"No, no, no… erhm… the penguins who did these marks… are not going to Adelie-Land…"

"WHAT! So we have been tracking down the wrong penguins?"

"I don't thinks so..." She answered "Look at these marks: there are three little traces…"

"Erik and his friends, Boadicea and Atticus"

"Exactly… and one slightly larger but not enough to be an emperor penguin, so it has to be Ramon. All of them are heading to the East; but if they wanted to go to Adelie-Land, they would have gone inlands, to the South-East. The Black Mountains are there (black because they are of rock, instead of ice) and adelies' home is not far from them"

"Are you… are you sure? Out here everything looks pretty much the same" Gloria nodded.

"I walked on that path only once, but I remember it perfectly. Trust me"

"I do, Gloria… but Ramon said that he was going to return home! Where could he have gone?"

"I don't know, but wherever he is going, he is carrying my child with him!" Gloria said, sounding pretty upset.

"Take it easy honey, I'm sure it wasn't his intention. Now come on, we have to speed up the pace" Mumble said, as he and Gloria resumed their walk, following this new trail.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**Atticus:** _Now walk out!_

**Bo: **_Now walk it out!_

**A: **_West side, walk it out_!

**B: **_West side, walk it out!_

**A: **_South side, walk it out!_

**B: **_South side, walk it out!_

**A: **_East side, walk it out!_

**B: **_East side, walk it out!_

Bo and Atticus had been singing for a while as they walked, just for fun. Atticus was now aware of what Bo was hiding and, despite being a bit uncomfortable for keeping secrets, he trusted in his cousin's judgment. Erik wasn't in good mood to sing, but he was enjoying his friends' performance. It was really cheering him up. But then, Bo suddenly stopped.

"Hey, listen…" She said. Atticus and Erik obeyed, paying attention to a sound that was almost inaudible

"I can do this._ No, you can't. _Yes! I can do this. No, you can't" The chicks looked to each other and walked in the direction of the voice. After walking up a little snow hill, they found just what they were looking for: Ramon "I tell you I can do this. _And how many times do I have to repeat it? You can't!_" Ramon was standing next to the shore of an inner sea, walking from side to side and apparently speaking to himself.

"Is that the famous Ramon?" Boadicea asked.

"Who's talking to me? Y_ou! _Who are you? _Me! _Who said that? "

"Em… yes…" Erik shyly replied.

"And with whom is he speaking?" Atticus asked.

"I… I don't know…" Just at that moment, a small wave came from the sea and hit the shore where Ramon was, drenching the poor adelie and leaving him stretched on the ground.

"_I told you…_"Ramon spoke (better said, whispered) to himself again, causing the chicks to laugh of him.

"He is certainly funny" Bo said and both male chicks nodded "Come on, let's go speak with him"

"Bo, wait!" Erik stopped her "What if he don't want us to go to Adelie-Land? Maybe we should… follow him in secret"

"Oh, Erik…" She chuckled "He won't leave a bunch of little penguins chicks to roam in the immensity of Antarctica unsupervised, will he?"

"I… guess so"

"Ok then, come on!" With Boadicea's order, the three chicks run at Ramon side.

"Heeeeey!" They shouted happily when they where closed.

"Hey! W-w-what's up? W-what this? W-what's up!" He said as he stood up. He noticed Erik and his friends immediately, but he didn't recognize any of them at first "What the…? What are you doing here, kids?"

"We are coming to Adelie-Land!" Boadicea quickly replied. Ramon eyes widened as his face showed how worried he was about this.

"Oh no, you aren't. You are here without your parents, this is chicknapping. Now go, shoo! Shoo!"

"But we can't! We are fugitives"

"Fugi-wha-?"

"Fugitives" Atticus interfered.

"Oh!... fugi-what?" Bo sighed in frustration.

"We fled from Emperor-Land! We're rebels! Three comrades seeking thrills and adventure!"

"And tasty snacks!" Atticus added, while he rubbed his belly with both flipper.

"Atticus, stop thinking with your stomach!" Boadicea told to his cousin as she narrowed her eyes.

"I can't help it! I'm hungry"

"You always are!"

"You're always saying odd stuffs and I don't complain about it"

"Guys, stop arguing please!" Erik interceded. Ramon focused his attention in this particular chick. He noticed that he was quite short for an emperor chick… and he was sure he had heard that voice before… but where?

"Sorry, Erik" Bo and Atticus said.

"_Erik?"_ Ramon thought _"Ok, I just know I heard that name before…" _Then he noticed something different in this chick: blue eyes. Only then he realized with who he was dealing. _"In the name of…! That's Tallboy's chick! Oh, goodness! I can't leave him here alone! Mumble would kill me! But if I took him with me, he will think that I chicknapped him and he will kill me! But if I took him back home, I will have to explain Tallboy why his hijo was with me… and then he will kill me" He sighed, but the chicks didn't noticed. They were busy talking between them "I'm dead anyways so… vamos a casa"_

"Ok, little ones, I made up my mind. I'm taking you to my home"

"YEAH!" They shouted in excitement as they jumped to hug him.

"_I'm going to regret for this… I know" _He thought as he continued his march, this time accompanied by three little penguins.

Their walk was a very quiet one. With the exception of some predictions about how it would be the place where they were going, the children didn't say anything ... at least not to Ramon. They spent the time whispering to each other jokes about the dual personality of Ramon. Just innocent children's jokes, but Erik couldn't help it but feeling a bit bad about it. His mother had taught him to treat other penguins in the same way you would like them to treat you. He didn't like other penguin to make fun of him, so he shouldn't be doing that.

His mother… how he missed her right now… he even was starting to miss his father. Maybe his hate for him was slowly disappearing from his heart? It could be, but it was too late. He had already chosen his path as a self-exiled… and he had dragged his friend with him. How magic friendship can be. Leave everything you know and love just to help someone who doesn't have a true bond with you? It's something that sounds pretty stupid.

In any case, they were together in this now. Three friends ... three rebels ... three comrades. Erik was clueless about the real reason why his friends had come. He knew it wasn't just because they were friends, but he couldn't care less. He was happy that they had come. Maybe the was s a bond between them, after all. A very strong bond of friendship ... but ... when friendship is that strong ... doesn't have another name?

"Ok, kid. We are here!" Ramon proclaimed while they were walking up a huge snow hill.

"Here? This is your home?" Atticus asked as he glanced over the place.

"No, big fluffy. My home is passing that" Ramon said, pointing to an arc of ice in the top of the hill. Apparently, that was the entrance to the adelies' territory.

"Yeah, don't you hear that, Atticus" Boadicea said, beckoning that they had to remain in silence. Cheers and shouts of excitement were heard from behind the entry "Those must be the adelies"

"That's right, Fluffita" Ramon said and continued walking to the top.

"Fluffy, Fluffito, Fluffyta, Big Fluffy… that penguin is definitively the most creative creature in the whole world!" Bo joked with her friends and shared a loud laugh with them "Aren't you excited, guys? We finally arrived to Adelie-Land" Suddenly, Ramon stopped abruptly and turned to them

"Adelie-Land? No, no no kids. We are not in Adelie-Land. We don't live there anymore!" He said, earning three confused and a bit scared faces. The three chicks rushed to the top of the hill and took a look at this new territory "Welcome to Nueva-Adelie" Ramon said, appearing from behind.

**(- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)**

**And here is where that annoying black screen with the legend "To be continued…" appears! XD XD XD**

**R U mad, bro? Well, sorry if you actually are :/… but I didn't want to include the description of the territory in this chapter.**

**Well, that's all for now. I really hope you liked this and I'm sorry for taking so long :(**

**Read you soon ;)**

**KevinBlu**


End file.
